A Godly Dilemma
by Child-Of-The-Sea-101
Summary: Three friends find out that they are demigods and go to a camp to train to survive in the world.  Along the way, they recieve a quest.  Will they make it?  Read to find out!


A

GODLY

DILEMMA

_Dedicated to our favorite author, Rick Riordan. We thank you for bringing the beloved character of Percy Jackson to life._

_Also dedicated to our friends and family for helping us out in the planning, ideas, and other useful necessities that went into the creation of this._

Chapter One: I Run Away From My English Teacher.

All right, let me get one thing straight here people: It was not my fault! It was my demon English teacher. She made me run away, and that caused my _backpack strap_, _**NOT ME**_, to pull the fire alarm. We understand each other right?

Ahem, anyways, I guess it all started that one morning in May, when my English teacher, Mrs. Lowry gave me a test. For any other kid, this probably wouldn't be any trouble at all, but for me… not so much.

You see, I'm, well, I'm a special case. My friends, Kyle and Jason, and I were all diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia, and let me tell you, that doesn't make school any simpler. It just makes it difficult.

Jason was one day older than me, but he acted like a day was a year. He was my height exactly, with brown eyes, and light brown curly hair.

Kyle was eh… nineteen days younger than me, an inch (give or take) smaller than me, with dirty-blonde hair and blue gray eyes. He was usually the one that we came to if we had video game issues.

So, that one morning started out like any other. I met Kyle and Jason at our bus stop, and we had some time to talk. We go to the same middle school, and have all but one class together (considering Kyle and I were in orchestra and Jay was in band.). I sat in the front of the bus and looked out the window, but there was something odd about what I saw.

Outside, I saw a huge guy, watching us while the next kids got on the bus. He wore a huge trench coat, red, wrap-around sunglasses, and camo pants. He was big and buff, with muscles bigger than my head. He was chatting to someone on a cell phone, but he was obviously eying me. Then he glanced in Jason's direction, then Kyle's. I sunk down in my seat.

"Don't look now," I whispered to Jason and Kyle, "But there's a seriously creepy dude staring at us."

"What?" Kyle asked.

"Don't look out your window." I warned through my teeth.

So, of course, as soon as I said it, both of the yahoos looked out the window. Judging by the expression on their faces, they saw the creepy guy too. They both slumped down in their chairs.

I peeked out my window, to see if the scary stranger was still there, but he was gone. I had no clue what had happened, and I was getting concerned. Who had that guy been? And what the heck had he wanted?

"Who was that guy?" Jason asked me at lunch.

I swallowed the last of my sandwich.

"Like I know." I snapped," I just spotted him. I didn't call him, or anything."

Then Kyle cracked a joke, and we all burst out laughing.

"But still," I said, recovering from my laughing fit, "That guy. What do you guys think his problem was?"

Jason stopped laughing, and got very serious. "I guess we'll never know."

We had one more class before the end of school. Our favorite, English. Mrs. Lowry gave out a pop quiz (no surprise there), and gave me the 11th grade quiz. I mean if 8th grade quizzes are hard, then 11th grade quizzes are darn near impossible.

"Now kids," Mrs. Lowry said, "You have ten minutes to finish. Ready… set… Go!"

I flipped the quiz over, and my jaw dropped. It didn't have any test questions on it, just a three-word sentence; "Confused, Half-Blood?"

I looked over at Kyle and Jason. They showed me their tests. Both had the same sentence on their tests. They looked just as confused as I was. We've seen some weird stuff, but nothing like this.

"What the…" I thought out loud.

Mrs. Lowry leaned in and whispered in my ear, "You might want to get out of here, girl."

"Huh?" My face paled. "What do you mean?"

Then things got weird. My teacher seemed to grow beautiful, younger. All the boys in the room, except Jason and Kyle, fell into a trance, seeming to look at our teacher like she was their master.

"It seems that the rumors were true." The Mrs. Lowry mused. She smiled in Kyle and Jason's direction. Then she looked at me with distaste and then said, "Tomboys… never living up to their potential."

Just then, the man that was watching us at the bus stop came in.

He looked at Jason and Kyle, "Hey punks."

What in the world was going on? I pointed at both of them, and yelled, "WHO ARE YOU? And what the heck do you want?"

The woman smiled, then said "I'm Aphrodite, and this," she gestured to the scary dude, "Is Ares."

I ran through my knowledge of names, and came up with Greek myths. Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of love and beauty (great…) and Ares was the god of war (super).

But they had to be kidding. Greek myths were just stories. Weren't they?

Ares grabbed Jason by his shirt. "Time to go, punk." The so-called Ares smirked.

"Go where?" Jason said.

"Oh, you'll see."

What in heck was going on? Were we being kidnapped? But why were all the other kids acting so strange?

That's when I did the most stupid thing ever. I shoved 'Aphrodite' to the side and saw Kyle take down her friend, Jason helping once he regained his balance. They bolted through the English door into the hallway, with me try to catch up.

So, naturally, as we were running away from the crazy people, my backpack strap just _**had**_ to pull the stupid fire alarm. EEEEE! EEEEE! EEEEE! The fire alarm made my eardrums vibrate, making it seem like I was in the middle of an under water missile fight.

The other kids came out of their rooms, single file, as if it was a fire drill. When they saw us running from the crazy people, they scattered, running into each other trying to get to the emergency exits.

As we were just about to join the crowd of screaming kids when our personal psycho friends came storming out of the flaming English room. The Ares dude looked as if we'd just punched his lady friend in the face.

"Uh-oh…" Jason had basically summed up our situation in less than two words.

We screamed in a weird assortment of a girly scream, and two scratchy wails. After that, we ran. And ran. And, you guessed it; ran. We bolted right out of the school, and into the streets. I looked around, desperate for a getaway vehicle, like a bike or something.

Just then, we heard a noise, like a motorcycle starting up. We, stupidly, turned and saw our favorite crazies riding a Harley to meet us.

"There!" Kyle screamed. I looked in the direction that he was pointing in.

"Dude," I said, "You can't be serious."

"You want to take your chances with them?"

Finally, I gave in and participated in an activity I didn't think the teachers (or my mom) would like very much.

We went to Mr. Thompson; our gym teachers maroon Pontiac, picked the lock, and waited for Jason to hot wire the car. When the wires sparked, and a big spark at that, Jason didn't even blink.

"Didn't that hurt?" I asked

He looked at me like I was nuts. "No. Was it supposed to?"

"Uh…" Kyle said, "Yeah. But just hurry! We'll discuss whether Jay is made of rubber later!"

Confused, we ducked in the car as it revved to life.

"Does anyone know how to drive?" Jason asked.

They both looked at me desperately.

"No way." I said, "I can't- please tell me you aren't serious."

So, in a matter of minutes, I was seat belted into the driver's seat, foot on the gas.

"Emma," Jason advised, "You need to put the car in drive."

"Shut up." I snapped, "I know what I'm doing."

I put the gear in D for Drive. We moved forward, accidentally smashed into the principal's SUV. Sure… why not?

We pulled out of the parking lot, and onto the road. We were going fast, maybe 65 miles per hour. I glanced into the rear-view mirror, and there they were. The motorcycle coming up faster than the speed limit by about 4o miles.

"Uhh… Emma?" Kyle urged, "Faster please."

Like I needed any other encouragement. I floored the gas pedal, and lurched towards…

"WATCH OUT!" Jason screamed

BANG! My vision went fuzzy. I looked up. All I saw was white. I thought that it was the white light people saw when they died. Then I felt my blood trickle down on my face, and realized that the bright light came from an air bag.

"You guys?" I groaned, "You okay?  
"Urrrrgh…" replied Jason

"Ugh my... head hurts purty bad." Kyle moaned.

I turned my head. They looked like they were just in a losing fight with a mad hairdresser. Both of them had lots of cuts, mostly on their faces.

I popped the airbag, and saw what we had crashed into, a tree. The hood was smoking. Sorry, Mr. Cesaroni.

I opened my door. "Guys," I said, "Out. Now."

They followed without a squawk. Both of their doors opened, and they got out. But by their expressions, I looked pretty bad as well.

"Let's get out of-"I was cut off by the roar of a motorcycle.

The Harley was coming at us at about 85 miles per hour. We were about to either brace for impact, or dive to the side, when Kyle tensed.

"MOVE!" He screamed. We followed his order as the car exploded. KABOOOOM!

All of us covered our heads, and felt the intense heat from the burning Pontiac. Somehow, the psychos had vanished into thin air.

The first thing we realized was that we were still alive. Burnt, cut, emotionally scarred, but alive. It also seemed that the Greek gods had given up on their desperate chase.

"What was that all about?" Jason said.

"Don't look at me." I replied, "I have no clue who those two were."

"Not that," Jason corrected, "The thing that Kyle did."

We both looked at him suspiciously.

"Yeah," I realized what Jason had meant, "How did you know when the car would explode?"

Kyle looked puzzled. "I..." He started. "I don't know."

All right, mega-weird.

Chapter Two: The Hunters Lead Us To Summer Camp.

We figured it would be better to get out of there when we heard the police sirens. They were all heading for the school. Yay, witnesses would blame us for the fire. Joy.

So there we were, walking with no destination. We passed an alley or two, so that gave us plenty of cover as the cops raced by. We had to leave Illinois ASAP.

After we were walking for three hours, we decided to call our parents. I called my mom first. I needed to leave a message.

"Mom? It's me. I'm going to be out a while. I'll call you again as soon as I can. Okay? Bye."

Jason and Kyle left similar messages, and we trudged off again.

We eventually got into rural parts outside of the city, and decided to camp there for the night.

I said I would take first watch, and the boys passed out. I wondered, though, how we would manage this. We were all underage, with about twenty bucks to spend. Why did we even run away?

When it was my turn to sleep, I had a really weird dream. I was in an underwater palace, like in _The Little Mermaid_. There didn't seem to be anyone around. That's when I heard a woman scream.

"HELP!" She cried, "Help! Someone, please!"

I whipped my head around, searching for the lady who had been screaming. I saw her, her panicked expression. She didn't seem to be looking at me, though… It was as if I were invisible.

I tried to go toward her to help, but couldn't move. I couldn't believe how useless I was. I was breathing underwater, not being crushed by the pressure, but I couldn't move?

Then again, I _was_ in a dream. This wasn't real…

Right?

I woke up, gasping for breath. It was daytime, and the boys were looking at me with concern.

"You okay?" Kyle asked.

I sat up, and groaned, "I'm fine…"

Jason gave me this look, which told me he knew I was holding something back. I turned away, then said, "Come on, troops. Let's move out."

The pair saluted and marched after me.

I got over the creepy dream quicker than I thought I would. I completely forgot about the underwater palace, and the screaming woman. I was more focused on getting out of Illinois.

Oh, why hadn't I grabbed a map from Mr. Thompson's car? This would've been so much simpler!

Within the next few hours, we figured we'd need food soon. We went to a few rural houses and asked if there was any kind of rest stop along the way.

"There's one about a mile east of here," One woman told us. "What're you kids doing out here anyway?"

I tried thinking up a good story to convince the lady, but Jason beat me to it.

"Ma'am?" Jason looked up at the woman, "We're running a cross country race. The three of us are in the lead, but we need some food. That led us to going to a rest stop."

We waited for a response. Finally, the lady bought our story, gave us more directions, and then went back into her house.

At 2:30 P.M., we arrived at the rest stop. We got lunch from a McDonald's, and bought some snacks from a vending machine. We knew we'd get hungry tomorrow. When we left the place, it was late, maybe 5:45. And we were going outside again.

We set up camp next to a train station. The 6:00 train would serve as our alarm clock. I put my backpack up against the station and thought about our situation.

We had exactly 30 cents each, our backpacks, full of homework we weren't going to do, a few pencils, and more useless junk. At least the paper in our backpacks made for a good pillow.

Kyle said it was stupid to have to take watch.

"We're behind a train station for one thing," He'd said, "No one would suspect that. They'd think we _took_ a train."

He was right of course, but I still kept watch.

At around 2:00 in the morning, I heard a very weird noise. Like, weirder than the underwater scene. It was…

"Monkeys?" I whispered.

I stood up, holding my backpack like a shield. The noise was getting closer. The chattering noise becoming more like laughter, more human.

That's when I saw them. Two teenaged guys, both were pushing each other around like idiots, laughing insanely. They had normal human faces, but with monkey features. And… they had tails!

Their laughter woke up Kyle and Jason. They looked at the twins, and then stood up, with similar backpack shields.

"Oh man…" One of the monkey dudes said, recovering from laughing. "Did you see that guys face?"

The second guy started laughing again, "Yeah, he was all like, 'AUGHHHH! You guys have tails!' and junk!"

"I know, right?"

"Weirdoes." Kyle muttered. Wow, a one-word phrase to describe two people. Kudos to you, Kyle.

Then the first monkey guy noticed me. "Bro, look!" He nudged his twin, "A girl, with her boyfriends!"

"Dude!" The second twin exclaimed then laughed, "That isn't polite! The correct phrase is 'the chick with her-"

"Sh-Shut up!" All three of us screamed. We were all red as tomatoes, either from embarrassment, or anger.

The twins burst out laughing, rolling all over the place. Okay, I've known some pretty annoying kids in the past, but these guys took the prize. I stomped up to them, grabbing them by their shirt collars.

"What's your deal, idiots?" I growled.

The monkey twins were a little surprised by this, but they got over that real fast, and went back to their giggling spell.

"Hey, girl." One said, "Are you trying to _threaten _us?"

I'd been through this routine before. I might be a girl, but I'm a _strong_ girl. One strong girl against two obnoxious teenagers is the story of my freaking life. I had done this several times with Kyle and Jason. I grabbed the monkey boy's heads, and whacked them together.

I could see the twin's eyes rattle.

"Dude…" the smaller of the two (not by much) groaned, "That hurt. Like ultra-hurt, man…"

Jason and Kyle looked back and forth from the twins to me to each other, remembering the old punishment. They shuddered.

"Your gonna pay for that, girly!" The twins said in unison.

That's when it went crazy. The monkeys came towards us at full speed. Suddenly, a volley of arrows sprouted at the twin's feet. They both fell on each other's tail. That would've been funny, if I wasn't facing the fact that they were freaking monkey twins.

They screeched "Dang you, stupid Hunters!" and ran off into the night, clutching their wounded tails.

We turned around and saw a group of at least fourteen girls, all dressed in silver spring jackets, most of them holding bows, notched with arrows.

The lead girl stepped forward. She had spiky black hair, heavy eyeliner, and startling blue-gray eyes. The girl was around 14 or 15 years old. When she saw us, her bow lowered.

"Half-bloods?" She asked.

"Uh… what?" Jason replied.

The girl turned to address her group. "It's okay." She said, "They're cool."

She turned to face us again. Then she spoke.

"My name is Thalia," she announced, "Hunter of Artemis, and Daughter of Zeus."

The best the three of us could figure, the girl's ages ranged from 11 to 16 years old, and there wasn't a boy in sight. Just the sort of club I'd die in. Girls are _very_ cliquey. I speak from experience.

The girl named Thalia led us to a girl that looked about our age.

"Alyssa?" She said to the girl, "Take the… boys to Lady Artemis, will you?"

"Sure, Thalia." Alyssa said. She nudged Kyle, and then led the boys to a tent on the other side of the road.

"Wait, um, Thalia?" I managed.

Thalia glanced back at me, "Yeah?"

"What were those two?"  
Thalia looked at me, then said, "They were the Cercopes, the monkey twins of-"

"Oceanus and Theia." I remembered, "Right?"

Thalia looked surprised. "That's right. Wow. Most demigods don't know that much about their heritage as you do."

"Huh." I shook my head. I chose my next words carefully, "Is all of this… for real?"

She looked at me with a twinge of sympathy. "Yep."

I was waiting forever for Kyle and Jason to get back, for what seemed like hours. I paced the camp, carefully avoiding the gigantic wolves patrolling around the silver tents. A few times, I would stop and talk to some of the girls, and ask what the heck was going on. Most of them kept mentioning jackrabbits. This was the best response I got out of one of them.

"Lady Artemis will probably want to talk to _you_ later," one was saying, "but your… friends" she shrugged, "I'm not sure about them."

That didn't make me feel any better. I just got more agitated. The wait felt like a lifetime. Finally, I went to go and get them myself.

I crossed the street, and ran into the tent.

I stormed in to confront who ever were in charge. I saw Jason and Kyle in a corner, looking like a deer in a car's headlights. I turned in the direction of their gaze.

"Who are you and what're you- agh!"

Some invisible force knocked me to the ground. I felt its aura like a cold winter's night on my head, keeping me down. I looked up, sure to see some kind of crazy teacher thinking she's a goddess. But I just saw a woman, in a silver dress with long flowing dark brown hair.

"Peace, young half-blood." The lady said.

I tried moving, but I couldn't. "Who the heck are you?"

"My name is Artemis, goddess of the Hunt."

I shook my head, and said sarcastically, "Sure and I'm Hestia."

The woman smiled, "I would not be surprised, to be completely honest. Hestia would usually take on a form like yours."

Jason and Kyle ran over to help me out. No matter how much they tried, we couldn't get me to my feet.

"Let. Me. Go." I ordered. Suddenly, I was able to move up. I stood up to confront "Artemis" when the urge to pass out came at me. I would've crashed down to the floor if Jason hadn't caught me.

"What did you do to her?" Jason demanded.

Artemis smiled. "I let her go. Though, I'm not entirely shocked. The first time one feels an Olympian's power, they'd regurgitate at least. But your friend's constitution must be congratulated."

At that point… I did pass out. All of this was too much for me; the gods, the monsters, taking care of my friends. I blacked out and had the weirdest dream I ever had.

I was under water again, but this time there was someone in the room. A man with black hair and green eyes was sitting in the previously unoccupied throne. He was slumping in his seat head in his hands, muttering to himself.

"Oh Amphitrite…" He moaned. "Where have they taken you?" I got the feeling he was talking about that woman I saw earlier.

That's when the man stood abruptly, yelled in outrage, "YOU WILL PAY!"

His outburst shook the palace. Another person came, err… swam into the room. He had a fish tail. That made him a… mermaid? He looked a little bit older than I did, on the human side. He came next to the enraged man, and said, "Father, I promise. We will find her."

The man's son took out a conch horn (don't ask me how I know that), and blew it hard. It sounded _awful_! Like four hundred cats yowling at once.

That's when it hit me. Mr. Mermaid was named Triton and his father; the man in the throne… was Poseidon.

I woke up with a headache that almost made me throw up. Jason and Kyle were right beside me.

"You okay, Emma?" Kyle asked with concern.

All I could do was nod. I turned to the goddess, and said, "You really are Artemis… aren't you?"

Artemis smiled, "Yes, child. Now I need to ask you something."

"What could I do for a goddess?"

Artemis stood and came over to me. Kyle and Jason backed off as she approached. She placed a hand on my shoulder and asked, "Would you like to become a Hunter?"

A Hunter? I'm not big on the hunting stuff. But I got the feeling that she wasn't talking about the "shoot-tiny-animals-with-a-gun" kind of hunting.

"Why me?" I wondered aloud.

Artemis smiled. "You have the heart of a truly skilled warrior, my girl."

"What's in it for me? Are there any rules?" I asked.

Artemis had to think about this. "Well, _your_ benefits are immortality, to start."

All three of our jaws dropped. Immortality? That _had_ to be a lie!

"Now rules… No contact, relationships with any men at all, and to swear to be a maiden forev-"

"Hold it!" I stopped her before she could finish, "So you mean I can't hang out with any of my guy friends anymore?"

"No you cannot." Artemis confirmed. "Only in emergency situations."

"No way, then!" I snapped, "Keep your stupid immortality! I wouldn't leave my friends for anything!" I folded my arms across my chest, showing that that was my final answer.

Artemis sighed. "I had a feeling you would feel that way. As soon as I met your… friends here, I knew you wouldn't join the Hunt."

"Then why'd you ask?" Jason asked.

"I had to give it a shot." The goddess winked, and gave me a slight smile.

As it turns out, Artemis wasn't too bitter about me not joining. She let us stay at the Hunter's camp. But, as I though about it a little more, I didn't really think Artemis gave up on the Hunter thing.

Jason, Kyle and I got to stay in one of the silver tents. We talked about our predicament.

"So," I said, "The Greek gods are real, one of them hosts an eternal girls club, and two have tried to kill us."

Jason nodded. "Yeah, that pretty much sums everything up."

We said goodnight and went to bed.

This time I wasn't in the underwater place. I was in plain old darkness. I heard the woman's voice, muffled though, as if she were gagged. There was another voice, a man's voice talking in the background.

"Yes…" The voice said, "Poseidon's beloved wife… He will surely have to blame someone…"

So _that's_ who she was. Amphitrite, the goddess of the sea, was the woman who was kidnapped.

"Now that she is here," The man continued, "Poseidon's anger shall grow, and he will make a desperate move, that will render him powerless." The man cackled and I woke up.

Note to self: No more freaky dreams!

Chapter Three: We Meet The Sun God.

That morning, the Hunters had packed up their camp in a matter of minutes. It took the three of us a whole half hour to take down our tent.

We met up with Artemis who had been thinking deeply for the entire time.

"Lady Artemis?" I said, "Where should we go?"

Jason punched me in the ribs. "Why are you asking her?" He said through his teeth.

"Because she helped us, idiot!" I growled.

Artemis looked up, a little distracted. "You should go to Camp Half-Blood."

"Camp Who-What?" Kyle asked, confused.

Artemis groaned, rolled her eyes and stood. "Camp… Half-… Blood"

"Ah." Kyle said, getting it, "… What is it for?"

"It is a camp for children like you three. Demigods."

As she said that, I started shaking. Demigods were one of my favorite topics in Greek myths. They were the heroes, but usually had tragic ends. I mean, except for Perseus. But anyways…

"Hold it," I said, getting excited, "We're… demigods?"

Artemis smiled, "Yes, my dear."

I started jumping up and down like a little kid on Christmas. I was a demigod! This day could not get better.

"But," Jason asked Artemis, "How are we going to get there?"

"Yeah," Kyle said, "A Hunter told me that this camp is in New York, and were in, like, Ohio now."

Artemis gave a heavy sigh; "You will have to get a ride from my twin brother, Apollo."

Okay. This day just got a million times better.

The wait for the god of the sun was almost as hard as waiting for Jason and Kyle to get out of Artemis' tent. I weaved through the line of Hunters, chatting with some of them. Alyssa, one of the thirteen-year-old Hunters, was talking with me and she was rather interesting to talk to.

"It's really a shame that you didn't join the Hunters, Emma." She was saying. "You seemed like a great candidate to be the next great Hunter."

I told her there was no way I'd ever join an eternal girls club ever. That pretty much ended my conversation with any of the Hunters, so I talked with Jason and Kyle for a little bit. I was particularly interested in what Artemis was talking to them about in her tent.

"Nothing much," Kyle said, "She just told us a bunch of Greek mythology stuff."

"Like what?" I asked, getting jumpy.

Kyle tried to remember. "Just some locations of Greek mythology places nowadays. Like, Mount Olympus is in New York, and the Underworld is in Los Angeles." Alright… A little strange, but alright…

When I saw the red line of the sunrise, I was practically vibrating with anticipation. Apollo did have to go around the world to get here, but come on! That's when I felt the heat of the sun come over our group.

"Avert your eyes, young one." Artemis advised.

I did what she said, and immediately realized why. The heat was so intense; I felt if I looked, I'd burn my eyes right out of their sockets.

When I heard a car slow down, I looked and saw that Apollo's sun chariot was actually a Lamborghini of some kind, bright red colored, with flames painted on the tires. Pretty much the coolest thing I've ever seen…

Until I saw Apollo. The guy who got out of the car was about nineteen or twenty. Perfect hair, flawless smile, and the kind of expression that showed he was a creative person at heart. A total dream boy… Jason had to elbow me in the ribs to keep me from drooling in the sun god's presence.

"Hey sis!" He raised his hand to wave to Artemis. Then he spotted the three of us, and said "Oh! New half bloods! That's cool. I suppose you want me to take them to camp, little sis?"

Artemis grunted in disgust. "How many times have we gone through this Apollo? We're _twins_! Therefore, we're the same age. And yes. I would like you to take them to camp."

"The Hunters as well?"

Artemis had to think about this. "No. I wish for them to stay with me. I feel there is a extremely dangerous monster afoot in the world. I need my Hunters."

"Whatever." Apollo said. He turned to us, "Ready to go, kiddos?"

Just the fact that we got to ride in the sun chariot was awesome. Until I learned we would have to go over one thousand feet in the air. I was deathly afraid of heights, and apparently so was Kyle. But Jason wasn't in the least. He was totally convinced that Apollo was going to let him drive the sun chariot.

Jason jumped into the passenger seat of the car. "Come on!" He sounded like a second grader going on his first fieldtrip.

Kyle and I just stood outside the car, stammering our opinions on why we shouldn't get on. That's when Jason gave us a great reason why we should get on.

"You guys want to walk all the way to New York?"

Two minutes later, Kyle and I was seat belted in the back of the Lamborghini, hands clamped together shaking like leaves. Jason was in the shotgun seat, bouncing up and down like a little kid on Christmas.

"How are you guys scared!" Jason was asking us, "This is the coolest thing ever!"

I stared at him, and growled through my clenched teeth, "I'm scared sick of heights. You've known me since, what? Kindergarten? You should know that."

"Oh…" Jason looked away, embarrassed. "Sooo-oo… Apollo, when are we taking off?"

The sun god smiled. "Right about…. Now!"

And with that we shot straight up into the sky, Kyle and I screaming our heads off. I think I heard Jason laughing and Apollo laughing along with him; Kyle and I couldn't stop screaming.

So when we were halfway over Pennsylvania, I puked out my breakfast from the Hunter's campsite. So if any readers got a head-full of throw up on their way to school, I'm sorry.

"Don't worry, sport," Apollo told me, "We're almost there."

"Urp…" I groaned, "Just tell me when we get there."

An hour later Apollo announced that we'd be arriving at camp in less than a minute. I never thought I'd ever be that glad to get out of a car ever again. The car came to a complete halt and I hightailed it out of there. When I got out, I nearly fainted on the spot.

The place we landed was the most beautiful camp I've ever seen! Rolling hills, a sparkling lake, a huge rock climbing wall (and, unless I was hallucinating, there was lava pouring down the sides), and a huge coliseum.

But the coolest thing I saw was a gigantic pine tree, and underneath was… a Centaur! A real-life centaur! Just like in the myths. His human side was wearing a brown tweed jacket, and he had a scruffy beard. When we walked over to the big pine tree, he said:

"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood."

Chapter Four: Trying to be a Happy Camper.

The centaur reached down and shook each of our hands. I could tell already that this guy had been around a while. His eyes seemed like they've seen everything.

"It's a pleasure to meet you three." The centaur said, "My name is Chiron."

"Whoa, whoa whoa…" I couldn't believe this! "_The_ Chiron? The-"

"Trainer of Hercules, and all other heroes. Yes, child."

It was impossible to hold in my excitement. I giggled and thought, "Hee hee, he called me 'child', and he finished my sentence!" Too cool!

Chiron went on to explain all about camp, and how the big pine had a magical effect on the camp borders, which made it impossible for mortals and monsters to enter. Those assurances made me feel a lot better.

"There are several activities you can do here at our camp, including sword fighting, archery, arts and crafts, helping out in the strawberry fields, etc. I'm sure you'll find something you will excel at."

"But," Jason asked, "Where do we stay?"

Chiron thought on this. "Hermes cabin, for now." You should be claimed any day now."

"Why's that?" Kyle wondered. "How are you sure we'll get claimed soon."

"Long story. Now, let me show you the camp."

Just then, a boy around our age came running up the hill, carrying a bow and a quiver of arrows. He had dark brown, almost black hair with gold highlights, glasses and an orange Camp Half-Blood T-Shirt.

"Chiron, master's archery is about to start." Then he noticed us. "Oh, new campers. Great to meet you."

Chiron began to introduce us.

"Jason, Kyle, Emma, this is Steven, son of Apollo"

We each shook his hand.

Chiron told us to wander around Camp Half-Blood, and meet him by the Big House (whatever that was) if we needed help or if we saw everything we needed to see.

When we arrived at the cabins, I could easily figure out whose cabin was whose. There were two ovals, twenty-four cabins each. I went to the half of the first oval, which seemed to be the original cabins. There were two humungous cabins that looked like his and hers temples. The bigger of the two looked plain enough, until I saw the holographic lightning bolts reflecting on it no matter which direction I turned.

Zeus' cabin. So each cabin represented an Olympian god or goddess. So, the one to its right must've been Hera's. This had to be the number one coolest camp in the world.

As we walked along, we chatted with some of the campers. There was a girl named Gina, who said she was a daughter of Poseidon (who just happens to be my favorite Olympian, thank you very much). She was talking with a friend of hers, Arianna, who was a daughter of Aphrodite.

"It's nice to meet you guys," Arianna told us.

"Same here," Gina said. Then she wandered off, humming something that sounded like Elvis' "Viva Las Vegas".

More campers showed up, most of them were our age, but some were almost college age. There was a huge girl who I mistook for a pro wrestler, which she wasn't. I don't think I've ever ran that fast to get away ever in my life.

We stopped by a cabin that looked pretty normal, but it reminded me of school. It had the same weird smell that all schools have. The three of us poked our heads inside. Inside were about twelve or thirteen kids with honey blonde hair and startling gray eyes. They looked as if they could figure out any homework problem a teacher gave them. Or take down any enemy they pleased.

A girl stepped forward. She looked about twelve years old, with tan skin, but she had dark hair, unlike the others in the cabin.

"Hi!" She waved, "My name is Lauren. Did you guys just get here?"

I nodded. "It's great to meet you."

Lauren smiled widely. "You'll have lots of fun here, I guarantee it."

We wandered some more, saw the rest of the cabins. When we got to look in Poseidon cabin, there was a teenager in there, maybe eighteen or nineteen years old. I walked in because I got lightheaded when I smelled the seashore. As I walked in, he came forward with a smile on his face.

"Hey, kid." He called as he approached. "I'm Percy Jackson. It's nice to meet you."

His bright, sea green eyes looked at me, concerned. "You don't look so good. Maybe you should head to Hermes cabin to lie down."

"Yeah," Kyle agreed, "I'm tired, too."

"Oh, you sissies." Jason complained. "I'm going to look around some more.

"Okay," I said, "Have fun."

As Kyle and I walked towards Hermes cabin, I noticed a kid with medium length brown hair, and glasses giving me the evil eye. Oh, come on! I just get here and already someone hates me!

The angry kid came up to me, and sneered, "Well, newbie. Welcome to Camp. Don't cross my path, and we'll get along just great."

I'd been through this routine before. There's always one kid who hates your guts for no apparent reason. I guess I found that person.

"What's your name?" I asked the kid.

"Sean, son of Zeus." He replied. "Now, GO AWAY."

So, after that lovely encounter, we continued to find our way to the Hermes cabin. We passed out cold as soon as we found empty beds. That night, I had another freakish dream.

The palace I was in was the same, and the man in the seat, Poseidon, was still there. He looked as if he settled down since his last outburst. But I could still see anger in his eyes. He was not a happy sea god.

"I have to do something…" He moaned, "The honor guard won't be enough to find her if the kidnapper is keeping her on land." He thought a little more, and he stood up.

"I haven't had to send this monster out since ancient times… But this situation calls for such a drastic measure…"  
He flicked his hand towards the water surrounding the palace. A bone rattling ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOARRRRRRR shook the palace, and the ocean along with it. With that, I woke up with a start.

The next day, I filled in Kyle and Jason with my latest dream.

"What do you guys make of it?" I asked.

Kyle shrugged. "I dunno…" Gee, that's helpful.

Jason thought for a little bit, "Maybe it's like a vision, or something." He guessed.

"Gods," I groaned, "I hope not…"

Part of me wanted to tell Chiron, but I figured, "Hey, I just got here. No need to start trouble." So, I decided to keep my dreams between Kyle, Jason, and myself.

Hermes cabin's first class today was track. I was never fast. Ever. I always dreaded the day in gym where we had to run the mile. But camp had this as a required class so I had to take it.

When we got there, there was a girl, about a year older than us teaching the class. She was lean, and tall, with very curly pale blonde hair. She told us her name was Emma, which I thought was kind of cool.

"Alright, Hermes cabin!" She shouted over the noise, "I want everyone lined up so we can race!" I took the places next to Kyle and Jason, and Emma blew her whistle.

Kyle and Jason took off way ahead of me as usual, but I was faster than a few of the kids in the class. But Emma was still way ahead of me. She was like one of those athletes you see on the Olympics. I think she was running twenty miles per hour! She must've been the daughter of Nike, goddess of strength, speed (which explains the running), and victory. She won so; it was kind of obvious at that point.

Our next class was sword fighting. This was one class I would _not_ miss, no matter what. I've always loved Greek myths, and the fact that all the heroes knew how to use a sword. Hey, this is a camp for heroes, so I should learn how to as well.

Percy, that one kid from Poseidon cabin and another teenager who I've never seen before were teaching the class. The mystery kid was tall, maybe fourteen or fifteen years old, with dark brown hair, and brown eyes.

"Alright campers!" Percy shouted over the noise, "Today, I'll be teaching you guys the basics of sword-fighting. This is my training assistant Marco, counselor for Zeus' Cabin. He's better than I am with this sort of thing."

Marco shook his head, embarrassed. "Percy, come on. You've had years of experience in the field." I began to wonder if we were actually going to be learning any sword-fighting techniques in this class, other than Percy and Marco's history on the subject.

"Ahem," Percy coughed, "Getting back on topic. Today, we'll work on jabs, slashes, the disarming techniques, and blocks." Ooh! This'll be fun.

I, the newbie, of course got teamed up with Percy, one of the best sword fighters ever, as Connor told me. I nervously picked up the first sword I saw. It was so heavy! I could barely lift it past my knees!

"You want a lighter one?" Percy asked, "That one looks-"

I shook my head. "No. I- Ow! I'm good…"

Percy looked at me in doubt, and gave me another sword. This one was considerably lighter, but I guess my body just wasn't ready for classic sword fighting. I was never really that… well, physically fit. I never really liked the whole "exercise" thing, so I figured that Percy was going to pound me in a minute.

I was right. He took me down quicker than my eyes could follow. I sighed, a little angry, but it was my own stupid fault. "As soon as I get home, no more potato chips." I thought. With that I said, "One more time…" And charged at Percy.

"Just take it easy, Emma!" Jason yelled at me on our way to lunch.

"How can I?" I yelled back, "I lost 31 times in a row! Even for me that's bad!"

Kyle snickered. I shot him an evil glare, and he covered his mouth as quickly as he had started giggling. "Sorry…" he muttered. "Okay, how many times did Percy win?"

"31!" I growled. I was _pretty_ sure I already said I'd lost 31 times… or was that my imagination? Whatever…

"And how many times did you guys fight?" Kyle asked.

I blushed furiously. "31." I admitted.

So, now Jason and Kyle were both laughing. I didn't want to be angry all day, so I playfully shoved them, yelling, "You meanie-bum heads!" And we started running towards lunch.

We entered the dining pavilion, and tried to figure out where the Hermes table was. A couple of our new friends waved as we came in, so it made it easier to narrow down our search. We sat down next to Connor and Travis Stoll, the counselors for the cabin. I was looking around, waving to the others and wondering when and how lunch would get here.

Chiron walked up front and clopped his hooves for silence.

"Campers! Another great morning at camp, I see. No broken limbs, which is always good. Plus, to top that off, we have three new campers. If they would step forward, please."

Kyle did one of those, "Who? Me?" things, but we made him get up. I waved, but quickly looked down. That was REAL dumb.

"Isn't that the girl that lost to Percy?" One camper muttered. Great, RUMORS! Everyone's favorite. I shot the girl a dirty look, and she looked away, embarrassed.

I sat back down next to the only friends I had at this table, Kyle and Jason.

"I hate rumors." I grumbled, "They annoy the heck out of me."

Jason nodded. "Yeah. Not even one day, and people already are making fun of us." He looked at everyone else distastefully. "Jerks."

Kyle just stared blankly ahead. "Just ignore them. They'll lose interest."

Five minutes later, nymphs came and brought platefuls of delicious looking food. There was pizza, bread, grapes, olives, and various other goodies. We were given a goblet of some kind, but it was empty. Connor leaned over and said, "Just tell the goblet what you want, and it'll fill up with it."

I shrugged, "What the heck. Diet Coke, please." All of a sudden, the glass filled up with brown liquid. I took a sip. "Whoa! You weren't kidding! This is AWESOME!"

I looked around. Surely even the older campers were still amazed by this, but they looked as if nothing happened. I saw Percy. He smiled and got up. I saw that all the other campers were getting up as well. They were carrying their plates up to the bonfire, and dumping some in.

"Burnt offerings for the gods." Connor whispered. "Come on newbie."

So, naturally, I got up, taking my plate with me. I motioned to Kyle and Jason to come on. We walked up and waited our turn. Jason went up first, and he dumped all his grapes into the flames. Great way to get rid of your fruits there, Jay. Kyle was next. He dumped in some of his pizza, and walked back to the table. I was next. I dropped in my roll and thought, "Umm, gods… and goddesses… Hope you like the smoke, I guess…"

Chapter Five: Getting Claimed Can Be Murder

After lunch we had free period. Jason, Kyle and I were walking around. I was staring at the clouds, and wondering how Mount Olympus could really be up there somewhere.

Well, obviously I had to bump into someone, and just my luck, it was my friend… Sean.

"Watch it, loser," he snapped. "Why are you in my way? I have to go, and you're making me late."  
I snorted, "Well, I guess you have some super-duper important electrical business to attend to, so…"

"You want to go, kid?" Sean threatened. "I'll make you sorry you ever mocked me."

Sean stepped forward and Kyle got in the way. "Lay off my friend, idiot." But, Sean just shoved Kyle out of the way and grabbed my hair with an iron fist.

He pulled me towards the lake, blabbing on. But all I caught through the pain was, "I'm the son of Zeus, king of the gods. I won't take any of this from an amateur like you."

The next thing I knew, Sean was pushing my head towards the water. This jerk was trying to drown me! Was he that serious? It was just a joke!

When my head couldn't take any more pressure, I went under. The water felt amazing if it weren't for the fact my lungs were dying for air. I couldn't take much more of this.

After about two minutes, I couldn't hold my breath any longer. I gasped, and… I could breath! Was… Was that even possible? Just to make sure I wasn't hallucinating, I took another gulp of water. It was like breathing normally on the surface. I must've been part fish! That was way too cool! On the other hand, I wasn't going to go easy on Sean after this. I held my breath again, hoping to convince him I was either unconscious, or dead. Exactly as I thought, Sean let me go, and I floated just under the surface, drifting along.

After I was sure he let me go I dove down, and sprang back up, scaring the living daylights out of Sean, Jason and Kyle.

I growled at Sean in a menacing voice, "You're going down, punk."

I then rose up on a lift of water, and somehow slapped Sean in the face with the water. After he fell to the ground, I said the only thing that came to my mind.

"I win." With that, I sank back into the lake

After a minute or so, I came back up. Kyle and Jason stood there, jaws wide open, muttering, "How did you-?" "Who taught you?

To-?"

"I know! This is completely weird, but equally awesome!" I exclaimed.

That's when I noticed the crowd around me. Half the camp was there. Was the thing I did _that_ impressive?

But then, I saw a swirling green light above my head. It had a ghost-like appearance, but in the middle was a glowing trident. The sign of…

"A daughter of Poseidon." Chiron announced.

Just another great bonus to being a half-blood.

Later on that day, I moved into Poseidon cabin. There were five other people in there besides Percy and me. There was Gina, Chris, Kevin, Christen, and Deandra. I got to share a bunk with Christen, right next to the window, with the best view of Long Island Sound. I never knew that the ocean could look that beautiful.

The next day, our first activity was with Hermes cabin; Pegasus riding. Jason and Kyle were there, Jason looked so excited, and I thought he would explode if he didn't get to ride a Pegasus. Kyle didn't look too good. He looked as if he was going to be sick. I hoped they wouldn't make him fly.

Of course, I wasn't too chipper about this activity. Chris told me not to worry. He was right. When I got on the Pegasus, an older one named Porkpie, I felt right at home.

_I'm going to go easy on you, all right kid?_ A voice said.

"Okay…" I thought, "I'm going crazy."

Percy rode up next to me on his Pegasus, a pure black horse. It looked like a raven with a horse body. Cool…

"Did you hear Porkpie talking?" He asked.

"I can talk to horses now?" I gawked, "Okay that is totally awesome!"

Then, Percy blew a whistle and announced, "Go ahead and fly everyone! The sky is yours!" With that, the group took off.

Okay, I've never been that coordinated on my feet. So being two hundred feet in the air, not the best thing ever. I clumsily flew Porkpie over towards Jason riding his Pegasus, and started up a conversation.

"So, how was Poseidon cabin?" He asked me calmly.

I screamed as a gust of wind blew past us. "How can you be calm up here?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I've always liked heights. I feel… relaxed up here."

"Well I feel terrified!" I replied.

Jason laughed and turned around to look at me. Then his face twisted from a smirk to a look of horror. "What is _that_?"

I turned around and saw what scared him. Coming at us was a flying lion eagle hybrid thing. A… A griffin.

Uh-oh, so much for a "monster-proof" camp.

I panicked. I was two hundred freaking feet in the air! What do I do? I don't think Percy went over the "What-To-Do-If-A-Blood-Thirsty-Monster-Appears." part of the lesson.

"Think you can out… fly him, Porkpie?"

_Yeah right, new girl! That's a griffin! Considerably faster than Pegasi, you know._

"Uh, no. I don't know." Great… This couldn't end well. Jason and I and the other kids had to get out of the sky before someone got-

Just then, my hair stood on end. Then a flash of lightning hit Jason. I couldn't see him anywhere. Was he-?

"Jason!"

His Pegasus flew around in circles, looking for his rider, but he was already falling down through the clouds.

That's when the weirdest thing happened. The griffin that had been chasing us flew up and around me and caught Jason on his back. It was helping him? That was strange.

The griffin went into an almost vertical nosedive, with Porkpie and I following close behind.

The thing landed with Jay on his back. A crowd had formed as the events unfolded. Chiron was at the front of the crowd, looking grim.

I ran up, but the monster squawked and snapped at me. I stood five feet away, Chiron holding me back. I was crying. I've never seen a friend die. This was unbearable.

Suddenly, Jason's eyes fluttered open. "Whoa," He breathed, "What a rush. Emma, why are you crying?"

I wiped my tears away, and snapped, "I am NOT crying."

"Sure…" He said.

He hopped off the griffin. When he was off, I ran up and hugged him, and quickly pulled away, embarrassed.

Then the monster did the oddest thing. It bowed to Jason, like he was a king or something. And then, a glowing, golden orb appeared above his head; a lightning bolt.

Chiron cantered over and said, "You have been claimed, my boy."

Jason, being a dork, started swatting at the symbol.

"You are the son of Zeus, lord of the sky."

So now, if you guys have been paying attention (which I barely have), I'm the daughter of Poseidon now, and Jason is the son of Zeus, one of my dad's bitterest rivals. Great… Just great. Now Kyle had to be claimed. I couldn't wait to see who his godly parent was.

That night was Capture the Flag. From what I've heard, it was like the regular game, only a little dangerous. I guess that's where the swords, spears, javelins and arrows came in.

The leaders for tonight's game were Poseidon cabin, and Athena Cabin. Their patron gods were rivals, so I guess that made sense. But when I looked over at Percy and the Athena cabin leader, Annabeth, they looked like they were… you know, together. Whatever.

Poseidon cabin had allied themselves with the Zeus, Hermes, Apollo, and Hephaestus cabins. Athena had everyone else. They had Ares, Dionysus, Aphrodite, Demeter, Hades and a bunch of the minor gods' cabins. We were lost when it came to numbers, but strength told a different story. We couldn't lose.

The game was a zillion times cooler than the backyard Capture the Flag I used to play at my house. We were each given a helmet, sword, shield, and other various goodies.

Jason and I picked out huge shields, and swords that were sort of easy to manage. Kyle ran up, brandishing a jet-black sword, swinging it around like a dummy.

"This sword is AWESOME!" He cheered.

"Careful!" a voice warned, "That sword is Stygian iron. One touch and… well, it won't be good."

Just then, a kid not much older than I was walked up. He had olive skin, black hair and dark brown eyes. He looked at us and smiled.

"Hi." He said, "I'm Nico." We each shook his hand. It was freezing. I tried so hard no to recoil, but I guess he figured me out.

"Sorry. I get cold easy." He laughed a little. Kyle, unwillingly, gave Nico the sword back.

"Thanks man." Nico smiled, "Enjoy the game!" With that, he walked off to join his fellow cabin mates. I thought it was going to be a pretty cool game, no problems, no killing, and no nothing. Just a clean game of capture the flag. This just proves how wrong I can be.

The two teams met in the forest at the creek's edge. I put my red plumed helmet on, but all I could think, and say was, "I CAN'T BREATHE IN THIS THING!" I realized that it was kind of loud and hid my face in the helmet, suffocating myself even more.

"Campers!" Chiron yelled over the clamoring helmet wearing kids, "Everyone knows the rules. The creek is the boundary line, and there is no maiming or killing allowed. Just try to have fun!" And thus, our first game of capture the flag began.

Kyle, Jason and I stuck together through the game, partly because we were scared out of our minds, partly because we had no idea where we were going. We heard the occasional sword clang or monster growl, which was normal in the forest apparently. Go figure.

"So," Jason sighed, "I'm bored, anyone else?"

I raised my hand, and so did Kyle. We were put on guard duty, well, Jason and I were. Kyle had no idea what he was doing so he just stuck around, and chatted with us.

"I hate being in Hermes cabin," he sighed, "I swear, if one more person tries to pickpocket me, I'm going to explode." I knew what he was talking about. The one night I'd been there, I got pick-pocketed and lost the thirty-five cents I was saving for a rainy day. Ah, don't you love sarcasm?

The game was progressing slowly. Every once in a while, someone from our team would come and check on us, and give us a report of what was going on.  
"The other team isn't taking any chances, and they haven't really made any efforts to get the flag." Steven reported, "But man are they protecting their flag like crazy." He shook his head, wished us well, and leaped back to where the game was actually happening.

After a while, we decided that it was time to start making some effort to get involved in the fight. Jason wanted to go first, but Kyle insisted that he went first.

"But why?" Jason snapped.

Kyle smiled meanly, "Who was the one actually assigned on guard duty?" Jason growled, but finally allowed Kyle to go out.

Jason and I talked about stuff we did back at home, playing video games, reading books, TV shows, etc. There was really nothing more we wanted to talk about, so we just waited for Kyle to come back when we heard a blood-curdling scream come from the forest; Kyle's scream.

Jason and I took off like freaking bullets, trying to find Kyle. We found him momentarily, with a pack of Ares campers. He was lying face down on the dirt, a huge cut on his back. It looked awful. I had to look away to keep from upchucking.

"No maiming or killing, you jerks!" Jason yelled at the Ares kids, "Just wait till I get my hands on you!" Jason then began to unsheathe his sword, while I tried to help Kyle. I had very limited first aid skills, and I've never seen an injury like this. I ripped a piece of my shirt off, and started cleaning the wound. Kyle winced and got up.

"I'm…Ow! I'm…" He growled at a very low volume. He coughed up some blood, definitely bringing out my inner maternal instincts to act fast and calmly.

"Shh." I told him sternly, "You got hurt pretty bad. I'm trying to fix it."

He slapped my hand away, sat up straight, and got to his feet. Kyle's eyes started glowing red, blood red. It seemed like all the shadows around him were morphing into his own. I fell down, scared out of my mind. What the heck was going on?

"I'm gonna kill them," He snarled. He stalked off into the woods, taking out his sword, while I sat, dumb-founded at what had just happened.

A big part of me was thinking, oh! You can just stay here! Kyle will be fine! , But that's not what my heart was telling me. Man, even in the most desperate of situations, I can sound like a walking talking Hallmark card. Great… I took off after Kyle.

Considering this was a big forest, I figured I'd have a hard time trying to find Kyle, but it wasn't. He, as he usually did when he got angry, kicked a lot of things, or in this case, slashed at them with a sword. There was a pretty obvious path of destruction, so I followed it.

It only took me around three or four minutes to find him. He was standing over the Ares kids, who were cut up badly, but weren't dead. Kyle wasn't holding his sword though. In its place was a strange weapon that looked like a two-sided arrow, one that was made from the same metal that Nico's sword was made out of.

Jason was sitting down, scared stiff at what Kyle had done. His sword was at his side still, and he didn't have any cuts, so I guessed Kyle hadn't hurt him. But I didn't know how long that would last.

I ran up behind Kyle, taking the advantage that he didn't see or hear me coming. Kyle's always been sensitive, and I had been one of the only ones who could calm him down. As I approached, I felt the air around me get colder, as if Kyle was making that happen.

"Kyle, stop!" I urged. The next thing I did was probably the most stupid thing I've ever done. I touched his shoulder and flinched back. He was ice cold, like snow. I flinched, and took a step back. Next thing I knew, I was on the ground, and Kyle had an evil glare in his eyes.

The ground began to shake, and cracked in a line in front of Kyle. From it, skeletal hands clawed out. The scream that erupted from my mouth was horrendous… definitely something that would come back to haunt me, but not as much as the skeletons would.

There were five in total. All were dressed in traditional Greek battle armor. Each had a sword, and if they were really Greek warriors… they knew how to use them. Against them, Jason, the wounded Ares cabin members, and I had absolutely no hope…

But, thanks to me and my nasty habit of screaming like the girl I am, Chiron and the rest of the people in the forest heard me and came to help. Nico probably figured out what was going on about the skeletons and was in front to help.

"What happened?" He huffed. I was speechless. All I could do was point towards Kyle.

"Oh boy…" Nico sighed. He walked up to Kyle and tapped his neck. Kyle immediately calmed down, and slumped to his knees, dropping the weird scythe. The weird weapon morphed back into his sword as Kyle hit the ground.

I immediately jumped up and ran towards him as Chiron and the rest of the camp came running.

"What has happened here?" Chiron asked Jason and me.

I stammered something about Ares cheating and Kyle losing it a little bit and hurting the heck out of them. Chiron paled and looked at Nico.

"You know what this means," He barely whispered, "Don't you, Nico?"

He looked grim, and sighed. "Well," He began, "It seems I have a new brother."

"What?" I was surprised to hear Kyle speak. "What are you talking about?" He groaned.

Just then, a symbol of a skull appeared over his head. The sign that mean only one god… The obvious one.

"Hades," Chiron announced to the camp, "We have another child of the Underworld in our midst."

That night, Jason and I moved Kyle's things into the Hades cabin. He was hurt badly; despite his whole "summon-the-dead" trick during Capture the Flag. The building that was Hades cabin looked creepy, even before I entered. I shivered, but kept walking. Someone stopped us at the door, and said she would take his stuff.

"I'm Katy, by the way." She said with a smile, "Don't worry, we'll take care of him here. I promise." With that, she went back into her cabin.

I told Jason good night, and went to my cabin. I'd had enough surprises for one night so I got in my bunk bed. Everyone else was asleep; there wasn't anyone to talk to. I tossed and turned for half an hour, trying to get the image of the skeletons out of my head. I got nightmares easily, and that would keep me awake for three days at least.

Finally, I got my pillow to be exactly how I liked it and started humming a song from Hercules, and eventually fell asleep. No nightmares or freaky dreams came that night.

I wish they had. That would've made my life a zillion times easier.

Chapter Six: The Hunters Make Me A Deal.

It had been a week after we had gotten claimed. I wasn't exactly used to being the daughter of an all-powerful god. And I could tell Jason and Kyle weren't either. It was all so sudden. But everyone was so nice in our cabins. It felt like home.

During free period, Jason, Kyle and I met up by the canoe lake to swim and talk. I was swimming like a crazy person and having an awesome time. Jason and Kyle were a little wary, but I assured them that Poseidon's wrath wouldn't be inflicted on them for swimming. So they finally started swimming.

"Ahh," I turned over on my back in the water, "This is awesome…"

Jason nodded and said, "Yeah… I wish we could stay here forever." Kyle grunted in agreement, "Oonga." We all laughed. That was an old joke from the park; long story.

About half-an hour later, we got out of the water, and changed back into our clothes. We went off to lunch and afterwards, it was chores time for Poseidon cabin. Today we had to clean the Pegasus stables. Fun stuff let me tell you. Well, come to think about it, it was easier for us to do this job because we had the ability to actually talk to the Pegasi. It was done in a matter of minutes.

That night was another Capture the Flag game. I REALLY hoped nothing bad would happen this time. But I will tell you something; I wasn't letting Kyle out of my sights.

However, Kyle wasn't the one I had to worry about.

As I was walking back to my cabin to put my weird trident failure that I made during arts and crafts away. I begged the teacher for arts and crafts, forgot his name… if I could draw, but nooo… it was either sculpture or poem writing. I would rather die than write poetry, thus the fail of a trident. Whoa, getting way off topic there.

Anyways… at dinner, Chiron pounded his hooves for silence as he always did. As soon as everyone quieted down, Chiron made the announcement that just made my day.

"Campers!" He said, "Another great day at Camp. Today we have some unexpected competition for the Capture the Flag game. The Hunters of Artemis!"  
I sank down in my seat. The Hunters were here? Was that even allowed? Why? Percy looked uneasy as well. Had he run into them before? I wasn't sure.

I asked around, seeing how good the Hunters were at Capture the Flag. Apparently, they'd won 62 times in a row now. Not good, considering the camp's score was… zero. We needed to change that.

I was getting ready for the game when Thalia came over to chat. That's when my day came crashing down.

"Alright," She began, "I'm not exactly sure about this myself, and so I'm just going to lay it out straight. Artemis still really wants you to join up."

"Look, I already said no." I argued, but Thalia held up her hands, showing me she wasn't done yet.

"Lady Artemis figured you'd still say no. So she told me to do this. Let's make a deal." Ooh! Cue in the dramatic music! "If Camp Half-Blood wins, you don't join. If we win, you do."

"WHAT?" I was outraged! We were making a deal about the rest of my life here! Not a football game! Geez!

But the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to whoop the Hunters butts. Teach them to mess with me.

I took Thalia's hand and shook it. "You know I'll win."

The reaction that came from Kyle and Jason was so bad, that I've had to censor it a little to keep the cops away.

"WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU THINKING?" Jason yelled at the top of his lungs.

I giggled nervously, "I… I dunno… I didn't really, Uhh, think."

Kyle let out an exasperated sigh, "You're such an freaking idiot." He informed me. Yeah, I thought, tell me something I don't know. But he was right. I had literally bet my life away. Where was my common sense when I needed it? Oh, that's right, nowhere.

So, now, winning the game was a huge priority. I was not going to join any eternal girly girl club for archers. I had terrible aim, and had no fashion sense whatsoever. I would probably die the first four minutes into the stupid thing, immortal or not. At least I had that coming.

I didn't want to admit this, but I was terrified. The thing was, the Hunters had apparently won sixty-two times in row. Why did I even agree to this stupid bet? I rubbed my temples; I had a migraine… I needed some aspirin, or a good slap on the head. Either one would help.

The game started in a matter of minutes. The Hunters, Hecate cabin, Demeter cabin, and the rest of the female patron cabins were on one team, and all the male patrons were on another side. We were perfectly matched, even if the Aphrodite kids were playing on the other team. This was definitely going to be a fun game.

"Campers and Hunters!" Chiron boomed, "Everyone knows the rules!" He went over the basic rules and the game began!

I insisted that I was put on offense, as well as Kyle and Jason. This was one game we needed to win at all costs. We weren't denied our request after we explained our situation to the leaders of our team.

"That's awful! What were you thinking?" Christen and Gina both yelled at me. I shrugged, admitted that that decision was pretty dumb. I still couldn't believe that I had done something so stupid. Ugh…

The game went along. We waited a few minutes and charged, according to our plan. Kyle and Jason split up and we went searching for the flag.

As I was searching, I heard several fights going on around me. Was the rest of team here too? I didn't have time to think about that, because just then, a Hunter burst out of the bushes, and almost hit me with an arrow.

"If you want me to join," I yelled at the Hunter, "Don't try to kill me!" What the heck were they thinking? Did they want me to join or not? They shouldn't try to kill me in the process!

"Gods, you guys are idiots!" I yelled, bonked her in the head with the butt of my sword, and then I ran off in the opposite direction. I needed to find the flag before one of these crazy girls killed me!

I must've run through the entire forest before I found the flag. It was on the top of a pile of rocks that, to me, looked like a pile of my dog's poop. But when I moved around it, it looked like a fist sticking out of the ground. Hmm, cool.

I grabbed the flag just as the Hunter guarding the thing turned around. I saluted her with two of my fingers, and ran off. She started calling for help as I started running away.

I yelled, "Oonga!" our code word for, "I got the flag!" They were with me within one minute and we were off running. They held off any attacks coming from the enemy and we crossed the boundary line. We had won the game! Camp Half-Blood finally won!

After our team's little victory splurge, Thalia came over, pouting sarcastically.  
"You won." She congratulated me, "Good work. That's the kind of thing that would be useful if you were a Hunter."

"But we won," I stated, "So that'll never happen."

She nodded, bid us a kind farewell, and the Hunters of Artemis were out of the camp.

That night, I went to sleep without argument, as I usually did. I curled up beneath my blanket, stared at the sea, whispered, "Night, Dad…" And drifted into sleep.

That night, a dream came, alright, and boy… this was a big one.

I was in the underwater palace again, and my father was there. He was a little less agonized then my last dream about him had shown. He looked right at me. Was that even supposed to happen in demigod dreams?

"I need your help." He said plain and simple. "Will you?"

My dream-self nodded slightly, and Poseidon smiled. "What do you need help with? Is this about Amphitrite?" Poseidon looked uneasy. But, he nodded sadly.

"Yes, it is." He said, "I need you to go looking for her. Will you do that for me?"

I thought about it for a minute, then, finally, I said, "Yes."

I woke with a start, sweating. I grabbed my head, and mumbled, "Why does this always happen to me…?" With that, I went back to sleep. No more dreams came that night.

I'm still not sure whether that's a good thing, or a bad thing.

Chapter Seven: We Visit The Oracle.

The next morning, Percy woke me up, and he seemed in a hurry.

"Emma, wake up," He urged.

"Why…?" I asked groggily, "What's happening?"

He pointed his thumb to the door. "Your friends have something really urgent to tell you." He said. I quickly got up. What was wrong? I slipped on a robe (courtesy of the camp store.) and slipped my tennis shoes on, and ran for the door.

When I got out of the cabin, Jason and Kyle were standing next to each other, looking nervous. It was six in the morning! What did they do now?

"What… What's going on, you two?" I asked sleepily, "And you, Kyle… Aren't you supposed to be in the infirmary…?"

Annoyed, Jason grabbed my shoulders and yelled, "Wake up! This is serious!"

"Okay! Okay!" I snapped, "Stop shaking me! What's wrong?"  
"We had dreams like yours." Kyle reported, "About a goddess getting kidnapped."

That woke me up. "Was it still Poseidon and Amphitrite?" I asked them.

Jason shook his head. "No. This time it was about my dad."

"Me too." Kyle said, "Well, it was _my_ dad in my dream. Not Zeus."

I was completely confused. Zeus' wife was Hera, Queen of the gods. And Hades' wife, Persephone was supposed to be in the world above, considering it was springtime and all. How could Hera, Persephone and Amphitrite all get kidnapped and have us get claimed at the same time? That's when I realized something.

"Guys, we all got claimed around the same time the goddesses were kidnapped." I told them, "You see the connection?"

They had to think for a couple minutes, but Kyle got it.  
"Our dads need our help." He realized.

I nodded, "It would seem so."

"Okay," Jason said, closing his eyes, and waving his hands, "We need to tell Chiron, like now." Kyle and I agreed and started towards the Big House.

We knocked the door a good fifty times before someone answered the door. It wasn't Chiron as we had hoped. Instead it was a guy, pudgy and red nosed. I figured he was a drinker, because he looked like the guys in that new movie that, never mind.

"Oh, campers…" The pudgy guy groaned, "Wake up isn't until 9:00. For me it's even later."

"We need to see Chiron," I told him, "Now."

The man harrumphed, "Is that any way to talk to an Olympian, young lady?"

I froze and felt my knees turn to pudding. "An… an Olympian? God?"

The god sighed, "Yes… I'm Dionysus. But you three will call me Mr. D, or sir. Got it?" I nodded, and elbowed Jason and Kyle to do the same.

"So, may we _please_ see Chiron, 'Mr. D'?" Jason asked politely.

"Oh, I suppose…" He yawned. "One moment."

Well, that moment felt like a freaking hour. Finally, Chiron trotted up to us, curlers in his tail, that made me smirk, but that quickly faded.

"Now," Chiron began, "What's wrong children?"

We all spoke at the same time, yelling versions of our dreams, and begging him to understand. It was extremely important for him to get what we were saying.

Somehow in the confusion, Chiron had figured out what we were yelling about. He thought for a couple minutes, and he talked to us about our situation.

"You need to go on a quest, you three." He announced.

All three of our jaws dropped. "A quest?" We said in unison.

Chiron nodded grimly and said, "Yes. You will need to speak to the Oracle." He opened a door, and clopped in. He must've woken a girl up, because I heard, "Chiron? Come on! It's 6:30 in the morning!"

About five minutes passed, and then a girl about Percy's age walked out. She had freckles, bright green eyes, and frizzy red hair. _This_ was the oracle?

"So, my name's Rachel." Rachel said, "You kiddies need a quest? Ask away."

I wasn't sure what to do, so I asked for help. "Oh geez," Rachel rubbed her temples, "I swear, they get more naïve every year. Just ask 'what is our quest?'. Got it?"

We asked her, and her eyes started glowing bright green, like the entire eye, not just the iris. She doubled over as if she was in pain, and then started talking, green mist pouring from her mouth:

"_A trio of damsels in dire distress, _

_For which a child of a Titan must confess._

_A father's creation shall threaten his child,_

_A battle with the god who has been exiled._

_The beginning of a battle that will never end._

_And no matter what, you'll lose a friend."_

After giving the Prophecy, Rachel doubled over and when she looked up again, her eyes and voice were back to normal.

"What did I say?" She asked, as if she didn't remember.

"Uh," Jason's voice was barely audible, "Something about damsels in distress, and a child of a titan." A child of a titan… Not good. Titans came before the gods and they were horribly powerful. Not to mention sick; Kronos, lord of the Titans, ate his kids. Including Kyle's dad, and mine. But what was I thinking? A Titan's CHILD, not a Titan, so it'd be a god.

Kyle took up the next two lines, "And something like a father's creation threatening his child, and battle with an exiled god." He looked away. All of us knew that was Hades. We'd have to fight his father.

I delivered the final verse. "Something about a battle that's never going to end, and for some weird reason we're going to lose a friend." I shuddered. That couldn't be good…

"Huh…" Rachel thought about this, then shrugged. "Ah, don't worry. It's going to be fine!" Sure, this coming from the girl who wasn't involved at all.

After we told Rachel, we went to tell Chiron. He was quiet for a while, which made us kind of nervous. What was he thinking about?

"Well," Chiron said, "You'll have to leave immediately, I'm afraid. We'll have to resolve this matter quickly before the gods try to kill you."

"Say what?" I screamed and grabbed Chiron's pajama shirt, "Kill us? We're kids, for Poseidon's sake! Why would they kill us?"

Chiron took my hands. "Calm down, Emma. It'll be all right. All half-bloods go through this situation, some more than others." He said, "In fact, they can give you some advice." He smiled and told us to go to our cabins, told Jason to ask for some kid named Jake, and Kyle to ask for Aaron. I was told to talk to Deandra, who'd probably be at the arena.

I ran into the arena and almost screamed. Inside, there was a huge black dog, and I don't mean Great Dane big, I mean "garbage truck" big. It was lying down, wagging its tail. Then it lifted its head up, and sniffed.

I tried backing away slowly, but it had smelled me. It got up, bounded towards me. I yelped and ran, but the dog was slightly faster. It pounced on me. Just when it was about to eat me, it licked my face.

"What?" I yelled.

"Don't worry," a voice assured. It was Deandra. Thank the gods. She would get this freaky monster off of me. But she just pet the thing, cooing, "Calm down Mrs. O'Leary… Shh, off of my sister. You're kinda freaking her out."

The monster unwillingly got off me and nudged me to get up. I did, and it licked my face again. I scratched its ears, and it… she, loved it, as any dog would. I had to admit, the dog was cute… for a monster that is.

"So, I hear you're going on a quest." Deandra said, reminding me of why I'd come.  
"Yeah," I admitted, "And I was supposed to talk to you."

She nodded, and sighed. Then she tossed me a blue object. When I caught it, I saw that it was an iPod, the new nano one. I didn't see how this could help me considering I needed a sword, not an iPod, I had one at home that worked like a charm. Why would she…

"Press the center button," Deandra said. I didn't know what else to do, so I clicked it. Immediately, the iPod elongated into a three and a half foot long sword, with a trident pattern imbedded into the blade. The hilt was made of silver, with a hint of celestial bronze. In the butt of the sword was a sapphire, my birthstone. What an awesome sword!  
"It's yours." Deandra told me. I looked up, amazed.

"S-Seriously? It's… mine?" She giggled.

"It never really worked well for me, but it seems it was meant for you. It doesn't have any fancy-shmancy name, but you can make one up, if you want." She smiled, and gave me a hug. "Just try to be safe, sis. Okay?"

"I promise." I barely whispered. I knew if I talked any louder, I would cry. This girl had met me only three days ago, and she already treated me as if I had known her forever. I started bawling into her shirt. She rocked me back and forth, saying, "Shh, Shh, it'll be alright, girly. Shh…", just like my mom did…

Thinking about my mom just made me sob harder. I eventually got over it, my sobs slowing down to shudders, and finally, they halted completely. I wiped my nose with my sleeve, straightened, thanked Deandra again, and then left the arena.

I met up with Kyle and Jason at the Big House. Jason was staring in awe at a cell phone. Kyle was looking at a PSP. Just what he needed; more video games. I was going to kill whoever gave him that.

I asked them who had given them their new toys. Jason had gotten his phone from Jake. Kyle had gotten his PSP from Aaron. Let me make a note of that so I know who to blame if those two ever go weapon-crazy.

Argus, our one hundred eyed security guard (Yes, the one from the Greek myths.), gave us a ride to Manhattan. There, we would get dropped off and then we would be on our own.

Before we left, Percy came up and gave us some advice.

"Never under any circumstances use a cell phone. Monsters can kind of tell when half-bloods contact people using those." He started, "And if you ever come across an Aunty Em, don't stay for snacks. She will literally kill you."

He patted Kyle and Jay on the back, and gave me a hug. He told us to be safe, and we were off on our quest. And let me tell you this for future reference:

Quests are only easy the first two hours. That's when they get insane. Just an FYI.

Chapter Eight: We Visit The Ice Cream Parlor of Death.

After about half-an hour of a car ride, we arrived in Manhattan. Argus made sure we were okay. He left us at the Greyhound station, which was from what I figured, a New York version of a Pace bus. The camp had loaned us a hundred dollars in cash, and a little package of golden drachmas, for non-mortal transactions or whatever.

We bought three tickets and got on the bus. I got very fidgety as more people got on the bus. After my English teacher had morphed into a Greek goddess, I learned to be suspicious. Everyone took his or her seats, and the bus began to move.

Jason and Kyle were talking about a game that they liked to play on their X-Box 360's or whatever, so I decided to write a letter to Chiron. I figured we should keep the camp posted on our journey. So, after a couple of days, I'd start writing.

"Emma!" Jason was shaking me, "You're zoning out again. The bus stopped. This is our stop."

I looked. We were in the rural area outside of the city and we had no more money for an extra few miles. So we were on our feet once again.

It was cold. It was wet, but I promised myself that I wouldn't complain about my feet hurting… But, of course I did…

"Th-Th-this officially s-s-s-sucks!" I yelled through my chattering teeth.

Jason nodded, also shivering. Kyle had taken off his jacket, and looked nice and warm.

"Are you guys nuts? This is amazing weather. Ahh…" Kyle sighed contentedly and walked on ahead. Jason and I huddled close together to keep from getting hypothermia.

We caught up with Kyle, but I walked into him. He was standing in the same place, eyes wide, jaw dropped. He was beginning to drool.

"Must… Go…" He mumbled, sticking his arms out, walking like Frankenstein, "To… Building." I looked ahead, and saw what Kyle had seen. Up ahead was a huge pink building that looked like a castle. There was a sign on the castle, but I couldn't make it out. To me, it looked like: QENUE MALIA'S CEI RECAM RAPOLR.

"What the heck does that say?" I wondered.

"Don't ask me." Jason muttered, which I knew was coming. Jason had the worst case of dyslexia out of the three of us. Kyle however had the mildest case.

"Come on. It says Queen Lamia's Ice Cream Parlor! Let's go!" Kyle urged us forward. I followed eagerly, being the big lover of ice cream in the group.

Jason was a little edgy, but we dragged him right up to the door. There was a nagging voice in the back of my head saying, "This is really bad idea…" But my common sense left me when I found out I was a demigod.

When we entered, my jaw dropped down to around my ankles. The inside looked amazing! It was set up like a palace dining room, long benches with long tables. There were only two kids there, their faces covered in melted ice cream. So, instead of wondering where their parents were, I thought, "SWEET! NO LINE!"

We all walked up to the counter, and I rang the bell at least twenty times. A lady came up, a wry smile on her face. She was pretty, I guess, with long shiny black hair, and beautiful green eyes. She looked like an actress from a movie that Kyle and Jason idealized.

"Hey, kiddies." The lady said with a smile, a freaky smile, "My name is Lamia. You want to order?" Something clicked in the back of my head, like some kind of "ALERT! GET THE HECK OUT OF HERE!" But, of course, I didn't use my head.

"Ma'am?" Jason had begun to sweat, "We don't have any money."

Before I could elbow him for ruining our chances for ice cream, the cashier laughed, and said, "No, no, kids. I couldn't make three cuties like you pay." She pinched my cheek, and smiled more widely, "I love children."

She supplied us each with blue-green bowls and ushered us towards a door in the back. By then, even Kyle was acting a little wary, but I couldn't get why. They were just being chickens.

I don't know how long it took me notice the boys' concern, because there was so many types of ice cream. It was a sweet tooth's greatest dream. There were literally 17 different types of chocolate, and vanilla, along with flavors I've only wished of. The drool began to drop as Kyle started shaking me out of my ice cream daydream.

"Emma! Emma! Jason's gone!" That got me out of my trance. I twisted around, searching for Jason. He wasn't anywhere in the room. But in one corner, I saw a hole in the wall. Could he be-?

"We have to find him." I decided. Kyle nodded, a determined expression on his face. We entered the weird hole in the wall, dropping our ice cream bowls.

It was pitch black in the tunnels that the hole led to. Thankfully, Kyle had always been able to see well in the dark. He led me through the tunnels so I wouldn't hit my head all the time.

"Duck up ahead, and stay down for a while." He instructed. I did as he told me. And I never hit my head once.

Kyle groaned, and muttered some pretty nasty cuss words.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

"Just…" He mumbled, "Just a headache… I'll be fine. Let's go."

"Are we there yet?" I said after a while. Suddenly, I heard someone say, "Shh!"

Startled, I jumped and hit my head on the ceiling of the tunnel. "OW!"  
Jason was leaning in from an opening in the tunnel. He looked pale in the low light, and… he looked scared.

"Hurry!" He urged, "I need to tell you something. It's important!"

We climbed up a ladder that Kyle and Jason directed me to. When I reached the top of the thing, I saw that we were in a dimly lit bedroom, I think. Kyle and I listened as Jason talked about what he had seen.

"Okay, so that Lamia chick is a freaking cannibal!" He stuttered.

"What?" I rubbed my head, which still hurt from the hit it took in the tunnels. "Are you serious?"

He took something out of his pocket. It looked like a handkerchief at first, but when he held it up for us to see, I saw that it was a tattered piece of a shirt. It was stained with blood.

"Is… Is that-?" Kyle stuttered. That's when it hit me.

"Isn't that part of that little kid's shirt? The one we saw downstairs?" I gasped, "Oh… oh no…"

I slapped my head. How could I have been so _stupid_? I remembered the myth now. Lamia was a queen turned demon in Greek mythology. She went around eating kids! I started whacking my head against a wall, muttering, "Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

That's when we heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Jason shushed us and told us to hide. I dived on the other side of the wall, right by the door. Suddenly, the door opened. I stopped breathing. Lamia stepped inside, but all I could see was a shadow. It sniffed, looked around, and then left. I exhaled, shaking like crazy.

"We need to get out of here." Kyle sounded more anxious than I'd ever heard him. But I shook my head.

"No. We need to defeat her." They both looked at me as if I was crazy.

"Are you crazy?" Jason yelled, "She _eats kids_! We need to run before she comes back."

"Yes she eats kids," I admitted, "All the more reason that we need to kill her! We can't let anyone else get-"

Kyle grabbed his head in pain.

"What is it?" Jason asked him,

Just then, a blood-curdling scream echoed through the building. I couldn't see, but I knew in my guts that it was the little girl from downstairs. I'd let another person get killed. I needed to learn how to hurry in after figuring things out.

"I'm going," I announced. "You guys can stay here, if you want. I'll get you guys when I'm done killing the monster, 'kay?"

They tried to stop me, but I was already out the door. I carefully climbed down the stairs. But, of course, the stairs had to creak as I stepped on each one. When I reached the bottom, I pressed the center button on my iPod, and my sword appeared. Here I go…

I whispered little threats to the monster queen. Most of them were like, "Here monster, monster, monster…" or "A big, huge hunk of meat, right here. Come get some!" or "I'm going to destroy you!" and other cheesy superhero lines like those.

I heard some rustling behind me. Was… Was it her. I swung madly. Where was she!

"Come out and show yourself!" I yelled. I took another mad swing with my sword. Where was she? On the ceiling?

Wait… on the ceil-! Oof!

In less than a second, I was on the ground, with Lamia's claws on my throat, her other hand pinning one of my arms down. The other was under her knee. Well, this is it, I thought. Death by a freaky, ice cream giving cannibal. Just what I needed to make my day perfect.

Her claws were really digging into my neck. I wasn't sure exactly, but I was pretty sure that she had already broken skin. I could feel warm blood trickling down my neck. Uh oh. Now I was REALLY going to die.

"Mmm…" Lamia purred in my ear, "You will taste absolutely _delicious_, my dear…" I squirmed under her, trying to get out, but she just dug her claws deeper into my skin.

I felt one of her fingers running up the side of my neck. No doubt, she was probably taste testing. She was making sure that I wouldn't give her indigestion or something most likely.

"Y-You know…" I stuttered, "Th-This won't go d-down well with m-m-my friends… They will l-l-l-literally kill you."

Lamia flung her head up and laughed manically.

"Oh, my dear." She cooed as she licked her lips, "They've left you. As soon as you went to find me, they left. You're all alone."

My eyes went really wide. Kyle and Jason... they left? I mean, sure I was mean sometimes, maybe a little bossy… But… did they really leave me? I began to cry. Oh sure. Now you cry, you big sissy, I thought.

She bared her fangs for the kill. I really didn't care at this point. If my friends had abandoned me, I really had nothing to live for. She leaned in but stopped abruptly. She looked down, with a shocked expression on her face. There was a glowing blue blade coming out of her, right where her belly button should've been. She gasped then screamed. Then, she exploded into dust.

I stood there, mouth wide open as the dust floated towards me. I closed it so I wouldn't get 'essence of monster' in my mouth. Standing right where Lamia became part of the air… was Jason. He picked up the blue blade that was glowing and sparking like a lightning bolt. He said, "Stay away from my friends." To the dust that was Lamia.

He held out a hand to me to help me up. I was still crying, either from what Lamia had said, or from Lamia herself. I got steadily to my feet, shaking like crazy. I held out my arms for a hug, which Jason awkwardly gave me. Kyle limped in, obviously relieved to see me still alive and kicking.

"You okay?" Kyle asked me after I had begun to relax.

I nodded, "Yeah, but I'm making a new rule."

"What's that?" Jason asked.

"NO MORE STOPPING AT ICE CREAM PARLORS!"

They laughed, but I was completely serious. No more ice cream for us. Well, from an ice cream parlor, that is.

Chapter Nine: I Say No… Again…

We exited the ice cream parlor, and dropped down, exhausted. What? You try fighting a freaky she-cannibal.

"You should probably fix up your neck, Emma," Kyle said, concerned. I touched my neck. It was still wet with blood.

"Yeah," I tried to giggle, "That'd be a good idea..."

Jason came over with a first aid kit from Camp, and started patching me up. Aside from my neck, I only had minor cuts. But my neck still hurt a lot. What the heck did she do to me!

"You're one lucky kid, you know that?" Jason muttered as he finished fixing my neck.

"How do you figure?" I asked him.

He finished up with the bandages, and said, "She was maybe half an inch from puncturing your jugular vein. If she hit that, we'd be crying over a corpse by now."

My eyes went wide. Had I been _that_ close to death? Wait a minute…

"How did you guys know to come looking for me? I didn't scream did I?" I cringed, thinking what a disgrace I would be to Greek mythology if I did.

Kyle shook his head and said, "No, you didn't scream, but I have a new skill."

"Wha-aat?" I shook him by his shoulders. "And you waited until _now_ to tell me this? What is it?"

"I… I can see when people are gonna die." He squeaked.

My jaw dropped. "What are you talking about? Are… Are you serious?" My voice was barely audible. This was… scary.

Jason nodded. "As soon as you left," he said, "Kyle got a big headache, like 'falling-to-the-ground' big. Then he said, 'Emma's next.' And we took off after you."

"I…" I started, but Jay stopped me.

"Just think of it this way," He said, "If it weren't Kyle's head aches… you'd be dead."

Besides the fact that I was totally confused, I thought that it was completely amazing. Kyle could tell the future… sort of, I mean, as long as someone's about to die.

I thought that now would be a good time to start my letter to Chiron. So much had happened that I thought I'd get overwhelmed by the day after tomorrow.

Dear Chiron,

I know we literally just left Camp, but we ran into a monster on the first day, and we were all pretty shaken up. It was the demon queen Lamia. She ate two kids before we could defeat her. How am I going to deal with that one the rest of my life?

Anyways, Kyle got a new ability! He is able to see when people are going to die, that is if it's close. It saved my life! And, according to Jason, if Kyle hadn't had that headache, well, I'd be dead right about now.

I'll keep you posted on what's going on, okay?

Emma, Kyle and Jason.

"What're you writing?" Kyle asked. He was leaning over and reading my letter. I crumpled it up and hid it in my back pocket.

"What have I said about reading while I'm writing, hmm?" I snapped, and walked on ahead of the boys, angry as heck.

After a while, we took a couple minutes to assess our situation. We figured we should try to ask our dads for help in our dreams. Like, maybe they know suspects for the kidnap- goddess napping. It was late anyways and we all needed to sleep.

That night, I had a dream in the underwater palace. My dad wasn't there this time. In his place, was a merman; Triton. He was busy cleaning his conch shell. He must've felt that someone was watching him, because he turned around to face me.

"Oh." He gave me a look of complete disgust. "What do you want, puny mortal?"  
"I need to talk to dad," I said, plain and simple. My mom had taught me how to handle jerks like these. Sarcasm is the key, "Could you be so kind as to tell him that I'm here, fish-boy?"

He growled, and swam off into the water. A few minutes later, and my dad glided in, as easily as I walked into any room on land. He looked more distraught than he had last time, and looked like he hadn't slept in a while.

"Hello again, Emma." He said with a faint smile. "How is your quest going?"

"Awful!" I nearly screamed, "I let two innocent little kids get killed! How am I supposed to live with that?"

Poseidon thought on this for a while, "You know, one of my sons, oh it was a long while back, and he had the same problem. He had several people die before he realized he could have saved them."

"Yeah, I know," I mumbled, "Theseus… the guy who defeated the Minotaur. But dad, the thing is, he became this big shot hero in the stories! He's remembered for doing something great in the end! But what will people remember about me? It's a different time! People expect people to save the kids, and think of themselves afterwards!"  
"Emma, I-." Poseidon tried to calm me down, but I was rambling now. There was no stopping I.

"Those kids weren't guilty of anything, except liking ice cream! Did they have to die? NO! No they didn't. And, Dad, the thing is, I… I could've stopped it! But no, I had to let my petty desires get in the way! I'm no hero! I'm… I'm not worthy to be your daughter!" I broke down and cried my eyes out. When I bawl, let me tell you, I bawl like a crazy person. I'm not sure how it was possible, but my shirt seemed to be wet from my tears, even though we were underwater…

Poseidon kneeled next to me, and gave me a hug.

"It'll be alright, child." He patted my back, "You'll succeed in your quest. I'm certain of it."

I sniffled, and wiped my tears away, "Th…thank you, Father. I'll do my best."

Poseidon smiled, "Now, is there anything else you'd like to talk to me about?"

I thought about all the things I wanted to ask my dad, but I had one thing that was still bugging me. "What was that monster you sent out to find the kidnapper?"

Poseidon got a brooding expression on his face. Then he took a deep breath, and said, "It's the Cetus."

I felt someone shaking me, and I woke up. Kyle and Jason were wide-eyed and nervous. Was it another monster? Come on, we just kill Lamia, and they just keep coming!

"What is it?" I yelled, "Another monster?"  
Kyle shook his head, "No, it's worse…"

"What could be worse than monsters?" I asked, concerned.

Jason looked around us nervously, "The… the Hunters of Artemis. They're back… for you."

"How long have they been here?" I asked.

Jason let out an exasperated breath. "While we were sleeping, Kyle saw them coming, and before he could stop them, Artemis put us in a carriage or something and knocked him out."

"W-Well," I was beginning to shake, "Where are we?" The boys didn't have a clue.

I couldn't believe that they came back to try to convince me… AGAIN! You people heard me say no, right? Yeah, that's what I thought. I was going to have a serious talk with Artemis, like now.

I stormed into the Hunter's already set up camp. Several Hunters tried to stop me, but I just shoved them out of the way. I entered Artemis' tent. Only after entering did I remember that Artemis was able to do that force-demigods-to-the-ground thing, which really ticked me off.

So, within like two seconds (well, not even that) of entering her tent, BOOM, I was on the ground.

"Hey Artemis?" I growled, "Did I ever tell you how much I hate when you do that?"

The goddess gave me a coy smile, and then she got very serious.

"It's a pleasure to see you again, my dear." She barely whispered. "I'm sure you know why you're here."

"Oh, I know, but I won't do anything until you let me out of… whatever the heck you're doing!" Suddenly I was able to get up. I was a little woozy as I got up, but I didn't pass out like I had last time.

"Okay…" I moaned, "I'm pretty sure I said no to you guys already… twice."

Artemis nodded, "Yes, but now, I've become desperate. There is an absolutely terrible monster on the loose."

"The Cetus?"

"Yes," Artemis continued, "And being a daughter of Poseidon and Cetus being a creature of the sea, I believe that you'll have leverage over such creature."

I shook my head, "Not a chance. I was terrified just hearing the thing. There's no way I can have any kind of leverage over it."

Artemis sighed, "I had hoped you would listen to reason."

"_This_ is _reason_?" I scoffed, "Seriously, math class makes more sense then what you're talking about."

There was an angry twitch in Artemis' face, but before she could do anything, I ran out of the tent. We needed to get out of this Girl Scout camp, ASAP.

I had to run all around the flipping' camp to find the boys. When I did, I grabbed them by their shirt collars, and told them, "We've got to get out of here, NOW."

"Why?" Kyle asked, but I just yanked them both up and we ran until the fire from the camp could be seen no more.

"What was that about?" Jason said, after we had run for about three miles. I had no clue where we were, but it was better than at that dumb camp.

"Artemis was just being stupid again." I mumbled, "You guys heard me say no, right?" They nodded, so, it wasn't just me. "She asked me if I wanted to join the Hunters, and I think I made her mad with my refusal."

Kyle sighed, "Well, that's just great." He was silent for a couple minutes, and then he said, "I'm hungry. Can we get something to eat, please?"

Jason nodded in agreement, and we took off towards a city in the distance.

Chapter Ten: Around The World… In Eight Seconds.

I couldn't tell you how long we ran for, but when we stopped, we collapsed without a second thought. We all gasped for breath about half-an hour.

While we were walking, a woman pulled up in her car and asked if we needed a ride. She was heading to the next state over. I wasn't sure where we were so I said, "That'd be lovely." I tried to see her license plate, but couldn't make it out. Curse dyslexia.

We got to the city in the next hour or so. It was bright and buzzing with life even though it was only 8:30 in the morning. We walked around for a while until we found a quiet little alleyway. I decided to flop down, and rest for a while. The boys followed my example.

After about half an hour, I decided to tell the guys about my dream. At first they didn't know what to make of it, but then I told them that the Cetus wasn't a type of salad, and they got the concept that this was a bad situation.

"So, did your dad say who in particular he sent the Cetus to?" Kyle asked.

I shook my head, "No, because the Hunters had to show up before I could ask!" I was so angry with Artemis and her little followers that I wanted to explode. Now I know how my mom feels when I keep asking her for stuff. Note To Self: Sympathize with her when/if I ever get home.

"Okay, second order of business," I continued, "We need to do something about those irritating Hunters."

Jason nodded, "Yeah, I heard you say no. And unless I'm mistaken, none of those girls are deaf."

Kyle laughed, "Except the one that screams just to hear herself."

We all started cracking up, when we heard a fourth voice laughing. We all turned around and saw a guy, who looked (and smelled) like a homeless guy. He had a faded brown trench coat on, and he had deep purple bags under his eyes, like we probably had. When I saw his teeth, I grimaced. There were mossy green, and totally gross. By the way, this is coming from a tomboy… He was an insult to people with a bad sense of hygiene. I shuddered.

"Hey kiddos!" He said in a hoarse voice, "Would you do a pal a favor?"

Sure, here's a bar of soap, I thought to myself. But since I've always had weird incline to help people, I said, "Okay."

The guy smiled. He laid back and sighed, "Can one of you wash my poor, achy feet?"

I blinked, "What?"

"My feet," the homeless guy continued, "You know, like scrubbing' 'em." Okay, mega-yuck. Helping someone in need is one thing, but washing their _feet_? I don't think so.

But something was urging me to do what this guy said. I didn't know why, it just did. This guy seemed like he needed help. So, just to distract the guy, I looked over his shoulder and screamed, "LOOK A DISTRACTION!"

The guy whirled around, wondering what I was screaming about. While he wasn't looking, I conjured up a jug of water, don't ask me how. I just thought of it, and bam! It appeared.

"Alright, sir," I muttered, "I'm going to …wash your… feet now…"

So there I was, washing an old, homeless guy's feet. Two words for you people, NOT PLEASANT! It's like rubbing a… a… I won't tell you. You'd probably throw up.

"Ahh…" the old guy said, "That feels amazing. Thank you little lady, you've helped me so much!"

Without warning, the old guy kicked me right in the chest, which sent me flying at least thirty feet! I did almost four backwards somersaults, OW, by the way, and ended up landing right on my head.

The boys came rushing up to help me up, but I was too mad to think straight. I got up on my own, took out my sword and approached the hobo.

"I know who you are," I growled, "You're the Foot washer. From way back in Theseus' time."

The Foot washer snorted, "Took you long enough, godling." He laughed evilly. But that's when I uncapped my sword and put it to his throat. He stopped laughing.

"You know what?" I asked sweetly. Then I frowned and then I slashed my sword right through him. "You monsters really annoy me." He screamed then exploded into dust. I swiped the dust with my sword, and dispersed it. "And stay gone."

After I killed the Foot washer, I turned around I saw the boys' expressions. Their eyes were wide, and their jaws were dropped. They were stammering something but I couldn't figure out what they were saying, so I just sheathed my sword, blew some hair out of my face, and said, "Let's get moving."

Following that little incident, the boys kept their distance. But I had calmed down quite a lot, and I therefore calmed them down. We walked for what seemed like forever until we found a place to eat. We ate like animals… and wasted all our money. Great…

We left the restaurant when we were done eating lunch. I was telling the boys of my plans to find the goddesses when…

"Is that… sleigh bells?" Kyle asked.

I turned around, and my day came crashing down. It was a sleigh, silver, like Santa Claus's, reindeer and all, and driving the thing… was Artemis. And she did not look happy.

"W-Well," Jason stuttered, "What n-now, leader?"

"How about…" I breathed, "Run?"

Thanks to my brilliant one-word plan we got away… Not really. I'd never really thought about this before then, but REINDEER ARE REALLY FREAKING FAST! I tripped over my own feet a few times, which slowed us all down, and the boys were getting tired.

Just then, Jason disappeared. He didn't fall down, or anything he was just… gone. I looked behind me, and he hadn't stopped to confront Artemis or anything, and he wasn't up ahead. Where the heck had he gone? Despite my concern, I kept running.

The next thing I knew, Artemis' sleigh overturned, and Jason ran right into us. We flipped over like in an old cartoon or something, and I landed on my freaking head. Ow, I thought, I will never flip over… ever again…

Artemis must've been really shocked that that had happened, because she disappeared. Go figure. Running for our lives, and the person doing the chasing gave up without so much of a hit. Huh… Lucky break, I guess. But I know one thing for sure. I was immediately going to tell my little brother that Santa Claus doesn't exist.

Chapter Eleven: Home Sweet Home.

Only after that life threatening and totally weird experience did I ask Jason about what had happened back there.

"Alright," I put my hands on my hips for that extra 'hold-something-back-and-I'm-gonna-kill-you' feel, "How the Tartarus did you do that?"

Jason shrugged, a typical 'Jason' answer, "I dunno, I just… ran."

Kyle snorted, "Oh, is that all?" He did a bad imitation of Jay's voice, "I just ran like lightning! Ha ha ha-." He stopped laughing, getting the connection. "Oh. Oh gods… seriously?"

So, Jason had a new power. He had lightning speed, which would be helpful if I ever had the sudden urge to kill him later on. I told the guys it was time to move out and ask someone where the heck we were.

After maybe fifteen minutes of walking, we saw a pier, with a Ferris wheel, funhouse, boat tours, and at least a mile of places to shop for anything you can think of.

"There's a store right there," Kyle said, "I'll go in and ask for a map, okay?" He went inside the store, and Jason and I were talking for a while.

"You know what?" Jason said, "This place looks kind of familiar. I think I've been here before."

I looked around, examining the tall buildings and I couldn't help thinking that Jason was right. The buildings towering above us had a really nostalgic feel to them. That's when it hit me.

"Is… Is this Chicago?" I marveled. The color from Jason's face drained. Home.

We were home again.

Kyle came out, looking just as pale as Jason looked. He held up a map, showing the headline: Sights to see in downtown Chicago! Urp. I didn't think my stomach could take much more. I don't know how, but we had gotten all the way back to our home city. Was it from Artemis' chariot? I wasn't sure.

But I had bigger problems. I was looking around the city when I spotted a nightmare: my family. They seemed to be out at Navy Pier, just enjoying the sights. I covered my face and inched away. The boys must've realized something was wrong. When they asked, all I could manage was a swear word and a jerk of the head in their direction.

We all covered our faces and walked off. We decided to hang out in Millennium Park. I suggested we go to the Bean.

"But I thought you hated beans." Jason said skeptically.

"No, dummy." I sighed, "The Bean is a sculpture. It looks like a huge bean shaped mirror, and if you spin around at the center, you'd probably get sick." They thought that was a good idea and ran for it. I followed laughing at how normal all this felt.

We definitely loved spinning around. Some people gave us a weird look, but we'd just smile and continue spinning. We were having a great time… until I heard a familiar voice.

"Hello, Emma." I spun around, and saw a tall guy in a Hawaiian shirt, with black hair and a thick beard.

"D-Dad?" I squeaked. Seeing him in dreams was weird enough, but like, right here in front of me was kind of scary. Plus, with his shirt reminded him of my step-dad. Heart attack much?

Poseidon nodded at Kyle and Jason, though he tensed for a second. "What are you three doing here?" I stammered something about the prophecy and how we were really tired and other things I can't even remember at the moment. Poseidon raised a hand to stop me. "Alright. Here." He handed me a wad of cash. "Consider this a congratulations gift for making it this far." Then he handed me a sand dollar.

"What's this for?" I asked. It probably wouldn't help anywhere we'd be going.

Poseidon smiled. "That is a sand dollar obviously. It's actually worth more than you think. You can buy almost anything with 'em in the U.S.A."

"Umm…" I began, "Dad? These won't even sell well here. Let alone anywhere else in America."

"Ah," Poseidon patted my shoulder. "You made a common mistake. The U.S.A. I'm talking about isn't United States of America."

"Then what-."

"The United States of _Atlantis_." I just stood there, jaw dropped, eyes probably popping from the sockets. Poseidon grinned and said, "See you soon, child." With that, he vanished in a wisp of mist.

I stared at the mist, wide eyed. "That- Thanks dad!"

But as I suspected, there was a trade off. As soon as Poseidon vanished, I looked and saw my mom. I gasped. She must've heard, because she was staring back just as startled. Oh (insert as many swear words you would put if you were in this situation here). The boys looked just as freaked out. I looked in the direction of their gazes and saw yet another problem. Jason and Kyle's parents were here too. We were caught.

"Emma Kailey! Where in the world have you been? Do you know how worried we were? Your message said nearly nothing! Why didn't you wait and explain things to us? Did you think if you ran away everything would be okay? Well it's not!"

This scolding from my parents not only startled me, but impressed me as well. My mom and dad had said all this in one breath apiece. I answered all their questions while they stopped to breathe.

"I've been around, New York for the majority of the time. No, I can only imagine. Sorry. Yes, I realized that the message was brief, but there was this cop car and we got scared. Sorry… again. We'd be either in juvie or a mental institution if we did that. SORRY. And it was either run away or deal with the cops who would put us in _**jail**_, which would be bad. SORRY, SORRY, SORRY!"

At that point I figured that'd they'd chew me out more. Instead they just locked me in a big bear hug. I looked at my little brother. He had tears in his eyes. He joined in the hug, and before I knew it I was sobbing too. I had been dreading this moment for a while but now, I couldn't be happier to be with my family.

From what I saw, Jason and Kyle were pretty choked up too. I'd always thought that a moment like this wouldn't bug them in the slightest. But Kyle was really emotional. He was locked in a Kyle sandwich between his mom and his sister. All three of them were crying. Jason was in a huge hug too, between his mom, dad, and older brother. He looked as if he was trying not to start crying. This was a good moment for all of us.

After our little episode of crying, hugging and yelling, my parents took me home. It was weird being in my mom's van again. It was all so familiar. For a moment, I thought I'd just gotten lost, but my family found me again. Then I remembered… everything that had happened. The monsters, Camp, Poseidon… everything… I ended up taking a nap on the way home.

Sooner than I thought possible, we were back in our driveway. I walked in, and nearly got flattened by my dog. Guinness, who's a nine-year-old chocolate lab with the mind of a puppy, never seemed happier to see me. He kissed my face over and over as if to say, "Oh my gosh, I missed you! Hey, by the way, can I have a treat? Please?"

"Oh, Guinness," I gasped, "I missed you too, puppy!" I had tears in my eyes. I started to sob as the reality of the situation sank in. "I missed y-you so m-m-much!"

Sleeping in my own room was kind of awkward. Someone must've cleaned my room, because I could see my floor. And my bed was clear so I could actually sleep on it. I listened to my old iPod. I was listening to an audio book, one of my favorites. I figured it'd help when I got to high school. But that seemed like a miniature problem at the moment. I still had a quest to do.

Then again… I could use one night of sleep. When I woke up, I smelled my dad making breakfast; Pancakes and bacon. Yum… I ran downstairs and saw my family staring at me. Awkward silence. I sat down next to my brother, as I usually did. I glanced around. My dad looked a little uneasy, which is completely not like him, and my mom looked like she'd been crying.

"So…" I began, "What's new?"  
"What've you been up to?" My dad asked.

I began to tell them the story of our little adventure, the good, the bad, and the Lamia-and-stupid-hunters. When I told them the Lamia part, I choked up. The story still freaked the heck out of me. My mom patted my hand, and said "It's alright, I'm sure you did everything you could, Emma." I continued up until I said, "And, now I'm here."

"You can't go!" My brother grabbed me in one of his death hugs. I'll admit, there were tears in my eyes. I didn't really want to leave. But the night before, I had the following conversation with Kyle and Jason;

Kyle: "We should really get back to our quest."

Me: "Yeah, but shouldn't we take a break for a week or so?"

Jason: "That'd be nice, but, in case you don't remember, our dad's wives are missing. They need our help."

Kyle: "Not to mention, those Hunters will catch up with us any day now."

Me: "Good point, but…"

Jason: "Look, none of us wants to leave. But the fact of the matter is… We'll have to leave as soon as possible.'

Me: "Like… Tomorrow?"

Kyle: "Yeah…"

I ruffled my brother's hair, kissed my mom and dad on the cheeks, and then began to walk off. But my mom grabbed my shoulders, and gave me a backpack.

"It's not much," She grinned at me, "But it's still something."

I wrapped her in one of my famous death hugs. "Thanks mom…" I whispered. With that, I started off towards our meeting place.

When we got to the playground, I opened my backpack. It had maybe five hundred dollars in there along with food, like animal crackers, bread and such, and a lot of other things. And at the bottom of the bag, there was a note… from my brother, short, sweet, yet heart-breaking:

"Stay alive for me."

Chapter 12: A God Helps Us Out.

We took a train from home all the way to Utah. It was a _long_ train ride. But it was kind of nice not to have psycho Hunters chasing us, or monsters for that matter. Plus, we didn't have to walk.

Most of the time we spent was playing cards, rock paper scissors, or just talking about stuff. We talked about different things, like movies we couldn't wait for. I talked about books I'd read, and tried to get them to try when we were done with the quest. Kyle seemed interested in a few of them, but Jason said it was impossible for him with the dyslexia.

I suppose the time at home had helped us all in one way or another. Kyle looked like he had gotten a decent amount of sleep, so he didn't look like he was about to pass out. Jason looked rested too, more energetic. I felt better, too. Maybe it was the fact that we'd all slept in a place that felt familiar and safe.

When we arrived in Salt Lake City, we stretched for what seemed like four hours. I looked in the backpack my mom had given me. We still had some of our money left, maybe a hundred dollars or so, and half a loaf of bread. That should last us a while. But then, my lack of common sense kicked in.

"You guys want to get some dinner?"

Kyle looked at me like I was crazy. "Where?"

"Hmm…" Jason thought for a minute. "Maybe we could go to McDonald's for dinner… and an ice cream parlor for dessert." He smirked at me.

I punched him in the side, and yelled, "In your crazy, non-existent dreams!"

He laughed, and punched me back, just to show that he was messing with me. "Oh, ha-ha… VERY FUNNY!" I punched him again, and ran off in search of dinner.

We ended up going to a McDonald's as we had thought earlier. We spent maybe twenty dollars on food, and dessert. Hey, don't go, "You should've gone somewhere healthier, like Subway!" or "Healthy food would've kept you longer." I have something to say to you: "Shut up. Subway sucks." We were hungry, and it was the cheapest food I could think of. So next time you're on a quest, you can go to Subway. But leave us alone about it. Okay?

While we were eating, we talked about random stuff.

"So… Are your dreams acting up again?" I asked.

Kyle and Jason shook their heads, "Nah, you?" Kyle said.

I shook my head. "No. It's really weird. No word from our dad's at all."

Jason put his head in his hands. "I hope we find those goddesses soon. I'm starting to get worried about Poseidon's threats… With the Cetus and all."

"Yeah." I started playing with my hands. "You know, I can ask Poseidon to stop the Cetus…"

"You can?" Kyle asked, a little doubtful.

I nodded, "When… When we get to Atlantis."

"But," Jason protested, "How are we going to get there? And we still have Hades to deal with."

Kyle flinched as if someone punched him in the gut. "Not to mention _your_ dad Jason." Kyle snapped. This was true. Jason's dad, Zeus was involved in some way or another. He had no right to talk about Hades and Poseidon being the only problems. I stood up from our table and said, "I need to take a walk."

And take a walk I did. I walked around the restaurant, thinking about our situation. The Cetus wasn't a problem at the moment, but we'd have to work out a strategy to defeat that thing. Then there was the issue of the goddesses. All three were still missing, and the gods weren't too happy about that.

That's when it hit me. I ran back into the restaurant and slammed my hands on the table. I yelled right in the boy's faces.

"What are your dads doing about Persephone and Hera?"

That's when both Kyle and Jason went deathly pale and I knew something bad was going to happen. I told them to tell me, or I'd kill them, and they talked.

"Umm…" Jason started, "Well, on the train… I had this dream…"

"A description would help…" I waved my left hand impatiently.

"Well, Zeus… He's sending this major storm… Apparently it's heading wherever we go… or…" He paused, and looked at Kyle, "Wherever Kyle is going…"

Kyle looked down, almost in horror, but I guess he'd heard this before. I looked Jason in the eyes, and said, "Why did you lie to me earlier… ABOUT THIS OF ALL THINGS?"

Jason stood up, slamming his hands on the table, "Don't yell at me!" he growled and pointed at Kyle, "and Kyle's keeping something from you, too!"

I looked at Kyle, and said, "Tell me."

He suddenly became very interested in the table. But he muttered what happened in his visions. "My… My dad is sending an army of the dead… after you…"

"Oh, great." I moaned, "Just great. Anything else you two 'forgot' to tell me?"

Kyle shook his head, "No… That's all."

After we had eaten, and had our episode, we started to walk off our huge dinner. I wasn't paying attention to where I walking, and I ran into a jogger. I fell down, but he barely looked phased.

"S-Sorry." I muttered, rubbing my head.

"No problem," The man said, "Here." He held out his hand and helped me up. He was tall and lean, with tousled salt and pepper hair, and gray eyes. He looked like he was in his mid thirties, and he was wearing a blue jogging suit.

"I'm sorry," I apologized again, blushing and looking down. The man put his hands on my shoulders and looked in my eyes. He broke into a grin.

"Ha ha," He said cheerfully, "You're Poseidon's girl, huh?"

I probably should've gotten a little worried then, but somehow I knew this guy wasn't exactly determined to kill us. Kyle and Jason didn't look too concerned either, so I guess they got the same 'he's not dangerous' vibes.

"Who are you, anyways?" I asked the man.

"Hermes," He said proudly, "God of Messengers, Thieves, and Travelers."

So, we met Hermes. He was a nice enough guy. He took us out for ice cream, and chatted with us as we ate.

"So, where are you guys heading?" He asked us.

"The Underworld," I replied before Jason or Kyle had a chance to speak up. I was still angry with them, so I would be the leader for now. Hermes licked his ice cream cone and sighed.

"You're going to see Hades, eh?" He chuckled nervously and looked at me, "You know what? You sound like your older brother when he had his first quest. Percy Jackson. What a kid, so eager to go help his mother out of the Underworld. That entire year was a close call."

"What?" Kyle asked, interested in the conversation now, "He tried to bring his mother back from the dead?"

Hermes waved his hand dismissively, "Details, details. You can ask Percy about his adventures if and when you get back to Camp." He sighed and got up, brushing his hands on his pants. "You need to get to Hades, right? I was on my way there anyways. You want to tag along?"

Of course! Hermes was the only god who could go from Olympus to Earth to The Underworld as he pleased! Plus it probably wouldn't cost us anything! But there was something I wondered.

"Why do you need to go to the Underworld in the first place?" I asked Hermes.

Hermes got very sad, like everything he cared about had just vanished from the face of the Earth. "I… I need to visit my son…"

He looked so sad I didn't push him for more information. Neither did Jason or Kyle. I looked at them and gave them a silent "Thanks" And said, "Sure, we'd like to tag along. Thanks Hermes…"

Chapter Thirteen: So, This Is The Underworld.

Thanks to Hermes, and his awesome, godly powers, we were able to get from Salt Lake City. Well, you know, I should probably explain how and when we got there.

Hermes was staring off into the distance, so I stood beside him.

"So…" I began, "What're you thinking about?"

He looked as if he didn't hear my question. But he slowly bowed his head, and said, "My son… I was thinking about my son…"

"Your son?"  
"Luke. I felt ashamed by the way I had done with him…" Hermes looked heartbroken.

"He… died?" I asked quietly.

Hermes nodded, morosely. "I'm heading there now to visit him. I was on my way there when I found you three. Since you guys seemed to be in a pickle, I decided to help you out."

I smiled at the god. "Thank you, Lord Hermes. We wouldn't have been able to get to the Underworld."

Hermes smiled back, "Think nothing of it. I hope you'll get this, ahem, matter resolved as quickly as possible."

"We'll certainly try."

Anyway, back to our journey to the Underworld. I can't really think about how we got there exactly. So I'll just tell you all pretty much what went on. I guess, apparently, gods can appear anywhere they want, whenever they want. But when traveling with others… Ehh, things get complicated.

"All right, everyone," Hermes split Jay and Kyle up from a fight. Don't ask me what it was exactly, I wouldn't know.

"Guys!" I snapped, "This is serious!"

"Indeed it is." Hermes agreed. "You need to listen to what I'm about to say here, or you guys could die."

That shut the boys up. "Now," Hermes continued, "What we need to do is hold hands."

"And I shall summon the spirits of the dead," I muttered.

"Shh, Emma," Jason whispered sarcastically, "This is serious."

I shot him a nasty look and continued to listen to Hermes's warnings.

"Now, all you need to do is focus on where you want to go. Since you're with me, you don't need to go on Charon's ferry, but you will only appear on the other side of the River Styx. After that, I'm afraid you're on your own."

"Alright," Kyle said, "Thanks."

At that point Hermes started chanting something in ancient Greek. I wasn't sure what he was saying, but it scared me. I squeezed Kyle and Jay's hands. They looked as embarrassed as I felt, but I was getting so freaked out, that I was shaking.

I caught a few words, like death, despair, and other fun words that made me feel all warm and fuzzy. I could tell Kyle was totally confused, but Jason was going pale. My guess was that he understood every word that Hermes was saying.

"Ready?" Hermes asked. We nodded, and the whole world did a 180. I couldn't see anything. It felt like a rollercoaster when you have your eyes closed. At that point, the temperature dropped about forty degrees. When I opened my eyes, Kyle, Jason and I were sitting down on our backsides back to back.

"What?" Kyle said, "Where are we?"

Jason swayed and fell over, "I don't know…" He slurred. I guess being in the Underworld, virtually as far away from the sky as possible, made him really weak. This just makes everything a million times easier. Like how I'm being sarcastic to lighten the mood?

Kyle and I picked Jason up. "You okay?" Kyle asked.

Jason shook his head no. "Bat…" He muttered, "Bat… ree…"

I looked at Kyle. "Did he say… battery?"

Kyle fumbled through his pockets, and pulled out a double A battery, and handed it to Jason. Where had he gotten… Oh… my backpack. Duh.

Jason wrapped his nimble fingers around the battery. All of a sudden he bolted up and said, "Well, what're we waiting for? Let's go see Hades."

Okay, I'll admit I was a little jealous that Kyle and Jason we're getting new powers every five minutes or so. No, I wasn't a little jealous… I was really jealous. The most I could do at this point was act like a fish for a little more than two minutes and splash water in people's faces. But I've known friends who could do that normally. Right now, I wasn't anything special.

"You okay?" Jason asked.

I forced a smile onto my lips. "Yup. I'm just fine and dandy. I love walking into the Underworld, whose ruler wants to kill me fifty times over."

Jason scowled, "Your sarcasm is going to get you hurt down here. Maybe killed."

"Yeah," Kyle agreed. "My dad really wants to kill you, Emma."

"Thanks for the update," I groaned. "I almost forgot about that, Kyle. You wanna run that by me again?"

Jason unsheathed his sword and before I could blink, I was on the ground with Jason's sword aimed at my throat. Kyle looked like he was the one who had a lightning sword aimed at him. Jason looked about ready to finish me off.

I just stared at him, mouth open. He'd do it. I saw it in his eyes. Kyle put his hand on his shoulder and Jason relaxed. I just sat there, stunned. Kyle reached out his hand to help me up. Jason put his sword away.

"Why did you do that?" I squeaked. My voice barely worked. Guess who hates when that happens?

Jason looked away and started walking towards the palace. When he was about seven feet away, I heard him say, "At least you're going to act like this isn't just a game now."

Kyle and I walked together in silence. I had my hands on my shoulders, and I was shaking, trying unsuccessfully to hold back tears. He was rubbing my back, like I sometimes did when he was angry or upset.

"You doing alright?" He asked. I had maybe a million sarcastic remarks I could've responded with, but I'd learned my lesson.

"No." I said, plain and simple. He nodded. I guess he understood how I couldn't take the pressure anymore. I had been hiding how freaked out I was about everything. At least he understood. With Jason… not so much.

Up ahead Jason had stopped. We looked above his head, and saw three bat-like creatures fluttering around looking menacing. Not a good sign. I know a lot of Greek mythology, and I had a pretty good idea of what those were.

"Everyone…" I muttered, "Those are…"

Kyle took a step back. "The Furies. They're the head torturers of the Underworld." Jason and I looked at him startled. "What?" he said, "You think I wouldn't look up stuff on Hades? I'm not that stupid."

"No one said you were." I corrected.

Just then, Jason gasped, and a Fury lifted me up in the air like I was a sack of potatoes.

"Guys!" I screamed, "Help!"  
The boys made an effort to help but it was useless. In less than four seconds, we were twenty feet above their heads. Kyle chucked his sword at the Fury. My adrenaline must've been on overdrive, because everything I saw was in slow motion. Kyle's weird spear like thing nearly nicked the Fury in the wing, but it impaled into a wall across the field below.

"Thanks for trying!" I yelled.

Let me tell you, Furies are NOT pleasant up close and personal. The thing had leathery skin and razor sharp teeth. Her claws we're digging into my shoulders. This situation had about thirty or so sarcastic remarks, but seeing as though I was maybe fifty feet in the air, I thought I should keep my trap shut.

We were flying towards a black obsidian castle with golden gates. The Fury flew in through one of the windows and dropped me onto the floor. I did a painful somersault and landed on my butt. It was painful, by the way. I got up and stared right into the face of Hades, lord of the dead. My uncle. The uncle that wanted me dead.

Chapter Fourteen: Let's Get Out Of Here!

Hades was dressed in a business suit, the kind you'd see on a funeral director. He looked taller than a regular human, maybe eight feet tall, with pale skin, and oily black hair, but that wasn't the scariest part. His eyes were black when I looked into them I saw my deepest fears that made me want to crawl away and hide. But I stood my ground.

"So, Daughter of Poseidon," Hades growled, "You dare come in my presence?"

No offense, I thought, but your friend over there flew me here. I prayed to any god or goddess I could think of that Hades couldn't read minds.

I swallowed, "Uncle Hades? Why do you think I kidnapped Persephone?"  
Hades huffed, "Isn't it obvious?"

"No…" I said, "I really don't get where you're going with this." Now this might've been my imagination, but I think Hades grew about two feet taller. He walked toward me, so I backed up against the wall.

"Do not play games with me, girl!" Hades roared, "I know you stole her from me!" Hades conjured up some fire in his hands. He shot a fireball in my direction. There was obviously something mystical about them, because they were charcoal black. I jumped aside just in time to save my skin.

"Whoa-whoa-whoa…" I waved my hands back and forth defensively, "First off, Persephone's not supposed to be with you for another two months or something. Second of all, I can barely take down monsters with out getting badly hurt! And you think I could take down a goddess?"

"You are testing my patience, godling!" He growled, "Tell me where she is!" He raised his hand, and he did this whole flamethrower thing with the fire. I remember from when I was back in elementary school that in a fire you should block with your head with your hands if anything (I could be wrong, so don't quote me on that.), so I did. My hands got burned and I fell to the ground clutching them.

"TELL ME!" Hades roared. He raised his right hand, and my feet no longer touched the cold ground. My throat began to feel constricted. Hades must've been part Darth Vader or something because he wasn't even touching my neck. I felt Lamia's scar reopening. Great! Just great!

"Ack! Can't we-?" I choked, "Come to some kind of agreement?" Hades expression hardened and he dropped me on the ground. I rubbed my head, coughed out the choking, and tried to focus. Hades waved his hand and made a shelf appear. On the shelf were at least seventy jars. He looked around and grabbed one. I staggered to my feet and put my hand on a wall to keep myself upright. I quickly pulled it away, my hand stinging from the burns.

Hades smirked and showed me the jar. It looked like it had some kind of herbs in it, but I wasn't sure. "Do you know what is in this jar godling?" I had no clue.

"Umm, rosemary?" I guessed, "Thyme? Some kind of herb or something?"

Hades chuckled. "Oh no, girl. Not at all." He pulled out a small handful of the gunk. It looked weird. It was royal blue; my favorite color and it had the consistency of tealeaves. But there was something weird about them. Hades looked at me with a wicked look on his face.

"This is your soul, niece. You have one week." He said.

I put up my hands defensively. "Wait, like, one week to find Persephone?" That's kind of short notice! Yeesh! "How about a week and a half."

"One week." Hades repeated. He crushed the tealeaves in his hand, and it erupted into flames. I felt a pain in my gut, and clutched my stomach. I think he made his point.

I tried bargaining for more time from Hades. But the more I begged, the angrier he got. When I gave up, he snapped his fingers. The same Fury that flew me in grabbed me by shoulders and started flying up towards the window.

Just then, Kyle and Jason kicked open the door swords drawn.

"We're here!" Jason yelled. He saw me and lowered his sword.  
"NICE TIMING, IDIOTS!" I screamed.

"Sarcastic remarks!" Kyle reminded me.

"SHUT UP!" I defended myself, and the Fury flew out the window.

The Fury dropped me in the middle of the field from about ten feet; it hurt but not as bad as it could have. I broke my fall with my hands, which was a bad mistake. The pain from my charred hands shot up my arms, and I blacked out, Hades' voice echoing in my ears. _One week_…

I woke to Jason kicking me in the side, and Kyle poking my face. I opened my eyes slowly. The boys sighed with relief. I sat up with a blank expression on my face.

"Whew…" Kyle sat down next to me. "We thought you were dead."

I smiled halfheartedly, "Well, you won't have to wait long."

Jason looked at me quizzically. "What?" I told them what Hades said, about the freaky tealeaves, the death threat, and everything in between. Kyle looked at me, his eyes filled with sympathy. Jason just stood there with his mouth open, shocked. I rubbed the back of my head.  
"Guys, can we _please_ leave?" I groaned, "I think I'm beginning to hate the Underworld."

We had no idea how we were going to get out of there. So we decided to make an Iris message to the one person we could think of who'd been in and out of the Underworld several times.

We decided to use the river Styx as our line. I raised my hands and made a mist screen with the river water. Kyle took a drachma out of his pocket and tossed it into the screen.

"Show me Percy Jackson." Jason said to the screen, "At Camp Half-Blood." I heard a misty noise, and then some shuffling from Percy's end of the call.

"Percy!" Kyle shouted to get his attention.

"Oh, guys!" I heard Percy say, "You're alive! Wait, where's Emma?" I leaned over so I could show Percy I was there. "Whew, thank the gods. What do you guys need?"

Kyle said, "We need another way out of the Underworld besides Charon's ferry."

Percy was silent for a while, then he said, "The door of Orpheus should get you out of there. Just head north until you hit a tunnel. That should take you right into Central Park. You guys need anything else?"  
Jason, Kyle and I looked nervously at each other. "What's wrong?" Percy asked, "Is everything alright?"

"Uh…" Jason started, "Emma's on death row."  
"Wait! What?" Percy yelled.

"Enough said!" Jason quickly said. He pushed my arms down cutting off the connection.

"Well." I scoffed. "That went well. Why didn't you cut off the connection?"

Jason gave me a 'are you serious?' kind of look. "Alright, this is the river Styx, and if I touched the water, my hands will end up worse than yours." I looked at my hands, and they were pretty bad. I reached into my backpack, and pulled out my bandages. I wrapped my hands in them and walked to catch up with the boys.

When we got into Central Park, it was morning, like 5:30 in the morning. We stretched for a while, and I began to walk off.

"Ahh…" I sighed, "Central Park. I think I'll stay a while."

Jason grabbed my shoulder, "Ah ha-ha-no you won't."

I pouted, "Aw, why not?"  
"We _all _want to do things, but we don't have any _time_." Point taken, I thought. I sat down and made them sit down too.

"So, what do we do now?" Kyle asked me.

I shrugged, "I don't know. Jason, ideas?"

Jason thought for a while and then said, "Well, Hades wasn't very cooperative with the suspect thing."  
"Gee, you think?" I mumbled. Jason shot me an icy glare and I looked down at my shoes.

"Anyways…" Jason continued, "I think you should ask your dad about suspects, Emma."

"Oh yeah!" I reached into my pocket and pulled out the sand dollar my father had given me. "We could go to Atlantis!"

"What's this _we_ stuff?" Kyle scoffed, "Jay and I can't really breathe under water, okay? This is all on you." Jason nodded in agreement. I sighed and got up.

"Well then," I said, "I guess we'll need a boat then."

Kyle jumped up and down excitedly, "Ooh! Ooh! I wanna drive!"

Chapter Fifteen: I Visit The U.S.A.

I'd like to say we paid for the boat, like good, trustworthy demigods, but I'd be lying to you all. I distracted the guard on duty while Jason and Kyle snuck off to get a boat. When I heard a chain break, I ran over to the boat. We started it up and we were off.

I was sitting on the edge of the speedboat with my feet in the water. Jason looked petrified, and Kyle looked pretty nervous too. I loved this. I hadn't been to the Atlantic since I was seven years old, so I wanted to enjoy it while I could.

"Emma!" Kyle looked back, "You're zoning out again!"  
"Sorry!" I yelled over the motor of the boat. "How far away are we from Manhattan?"  
"About five miles, give or take!" Kyle yelled back.

"When are we going to stop?" Jason groaned. I looked at him quizzically. That's when I felt a rush of power go from my foot all the way up my spine, and into my head.

"STOP!" I told Kyle. He slammed on the brakes, launching an unprepared Jason off the boat. I jumped into the water, and helped Jason back up.

"Now," I started, "If I'm not up in three hours, something bad happened, so go back to camp. If not, wait for me. Got it?" The guys nodded, and I plunged down into the ocean.

Now, if any of you none child of sea types are reading this, I'll try to explain what it felt like. I could breathe normally, for one thing. I still had to swim like a normal person, but no air tank for this girl. I could just breathe. About ten minutes in, I checked for gills, but found nothing, so I wasn't part fish. I will admit that I was a little disheartened at this discovery.

Another thing that's kind of cool was that, even though I was getting deeper and deeper into the ocean, I was still warm. If you've ever been deep-sea diving/fishing/tubing, you have to wear a suit to keep warm. No suit, and I was perfectly warm.

As I floated down, my cuts were healing, but my hands still were burned. I wondered why that was. Then I remembered that Hades was the one who did that. It was magical fire, probably.

But the coolest thing was that I was dry. When I touched my shirt, it was completely dry; my hair, my face, hands, everything was dry. No matter what I did underwater, I stayed dry.

As I reached the bottom of the sea, my entire world did a 360. Atlantis was literally the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life. It looked like every picture I'd ever seen of it, but a million times better. All the buildings were tinted blue, and fish darted in and out of doors and windows.

There were some mermaid people swimming around. A few did a double take when they saw me. I saw one swim off, and chatter excitedly to her friends. There were a few more male mermaids tailing me as I walked. As I walked faster, they swam faster. I finally made it to the palace gates.

There were two guards defending the castle. They had fish tails and fishlike heads, and were wielding spears.

"State your business," One guard asked me. I rummaged through my pockets and pulled out my sand dollar.

"Umm, is this what you're asking for?" I asked. I handed him the sand dollar. He examined it for a long time, then his eyes got really big and he quickly handed the sand dollar back to me. He nudged his guard buddy and they both opened the doors and bowed.

"Welcome, daughter of Poseidon." The guard said.

What can I say about the palace? It was huge, like Madison Square Garden huge. The rock it was made out of looked like it was designed to awe people into thinking it was their imagination. It was crazy. The walls had shells imbedded in them. It was… amazing. Plain amazing.

When I came across guards, I just showed them the sand dollar and they let me pass. As I continued with my journey to find the throne room, I ran into another male mermaid. He looked kind of familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"You're back, mortal?" The merman said. That's when it hit me.

"Triton?" I asked. He tensed as if he couldn't believe I had the guts to remember his name. "Yes, girl. Now, come. I know you're here to see dad."

As I walked into the throne room, I recognized it all too well from my dreams. But the part I hadn't seen before was that there wasn't a roof. I guess when your miles under the sea, you don't need to worry about bad weather. The throne was empty, so I waited for Poseidon leaning back and forth on my heels. I looked up and saw a tiny black dot at… was that the boat? Way up on the surface? Man! I could see that far?

I poked the guard next to me and pointed up. "That's our boat up there." The guard looked up and nodded.

"It is a very nice boat, indeed." He said, smiling. It was pretty cool that the guard didn't just ignore me. It seemed that Triton was the only one here that didn't like me. I heard another door open and I saw Poseidon enter the room and sit on his throne.

"Come forward." Poseidon said. I did, and kneeled in front of my father. "Oh, don't do that, daughter." He chided, "Stand." I did, and nervously started swinging my leg back and forth.

"So," Poseidon shifted in his seat. "What do you want to talk about?"

I bit my lip nervously, and asked my questions. "About the issue that's happening now… With Hades and Zeus…"

"Yes?"

"Do you have any other suspects, besides Jason?" I asked. Poseidon's smile wavered. He rose out of his seat.

"No!" he roared, "He did it without a doubt!" The whole palace shook. I stepped back uneasily, and held up my hands. Poseidon's face softened. "What happened to your hands, child?"

I told my dad about Hades' threats, and his magical flamethrower, everything. Poseidon got a brooding look on his face. He waved his hand and I felt a weird feeling shoot up my arms. When I looked at my hands, they were healed.

"Thanks…" I marveled. "But, Dad, about the Cetus… Would it be at all possible if you could call it off for a while? Just so we could have some time to find other suspects?"  
Poseidon rose as if to scold me, but stopped abruptly. He looked up and got a strange look on his face. I looked up too and saw our boat. There was a weird looking shadow rushing up to the boat. I didn't need demigod powers to know that my friends were in danger.

"Okay, Lord, Father, Poseidon, whatever you want to be called. Thanks for nothing!" I waved the statement away. "But now, I have to save my friends." I began to run off, but Poseidon stopped me.

"Emma," He said, "You may call me dad."

I looked at him like he was a crazy man, not exactly sure why he said that. I shook my head dismissively and then swam up to help Kyle and Jason from the monster they couldn't see coming.

I swam faster than I did coming down. The Cetus was closing in on our tiny speedboat. It seemed that as I got closer, so did the Cetus. When I was about twenty feet from the surface, the monster hit the boat, and it exploded into a flurry of bubbles. Oh my gods… Jason… Kyle… Were they dead? Oh, that freaking lizard would pay!

When I surfaced, I got my first look at the Cetus. It looked horrific. The thing was thirty feet long at least and ten feet wide. It had mossy green scales, and laser red eyes. His teeth were razor sharp pearly whites, which surprised me.

I looked around at the boat wreckage for Jason and Kyle. They were both clinging to a big piece of the ruined boat. I sighed with relief. Thank goodness they were all right. But I didn't have time to celebrate. I had a monster to take care of.

I wasn't sure how to deal with this, so I just charged the thing. I took out my sword and jumped out of the water. Don't ask me exactly what I did, but I will tell you that I wasn't doing a good job at it. I parried every strike the Cetus threw at me but I couldn't land a single blow. It whacked me with its head, and I flew off to the side.

The next thing I knew, it swam towards Jason. Jason had enough time to get his sword out before the Cetus swallowed him whole. I tried to cry out but it was stuck in my throat. I looked at Kyle, but he wasn't having one of his explosive headaches. Then the Cetus' head start to twitch. After that I saw sparks of electricity go all over the monster. It roared, and spat Jason out. Jason hit the water with a big splash, and began to sink.

I dove down after Jason, and got him to wake up. We swam up to the surface and met with Kyle who was clinging to the wreckage for all he was worth.

"You guys, head to shore!" I panted.

Jason looked at me, "In case you haven't noticed, we're five miles away from shore! How are we supposed to get there?" I groaned, swung my arms around and the boys shot forward on a wave of water.  
"That should get you started!" I yelled, and I turned around to face the Cetus.

The monster hesitated when it was about to attack. Maybe it was because I was the daughter of the god who had created him. Whatever it was, he got over it quickly. It lunged at me, bearing his teeth. I slashed at him with my sword. He dodged it easily, and snapped at me, which I barely dodged. This was not going well.

The thing used it head to bat me about 50 yards. I stood up, and for the first time, I realized that I could stand on water. Holy Poseidon! This was so cool! But I got right back to business.

As I got closer, the monster tensed for another attack. An idea came to my mind, and I tried it out. I began to raise my hands up about two and a half feet apart. The Cetus must've gotten tired of waiting for me, because it began to charge. The water began to rise beneath both of my hands.

The monster was maybe seven yards away when the water started to rise. The Cetus bit right in front of my face and it dropped. I had made the water rise on either side. I heard the thing roar all the way down and heard a sickening BOOM, and then nothing. I let the water rush back to its natural course. Wait till I tell the guys, I thought.

When I got to the shore, I found the boys face down on the beach. I ran up and gently kicked them in the sides.

"Guys! You'll never believe what I just did- and you're unconscious." I reached into Kyle's pockets and pulled out a golden drachma, and made a call to camp.

Chapter Sixteen: I Show My True Stupidity

When we arrived back at Half-Blood Hill, some Apollo kids rushed Kyle and Jason to the infirmary. After a glass of water, the small injuries I'd obtained during vanished. I went to my cabin. I needed to rest.

As soon as I entered cabin three, I felt everyone's eyes on me. I guess Percy had told my other siblings of my situation. Percy walked up and gave me a hug. I just stood still, barely registering the act of sympathy. I got hugs from almost everyone else in the cabin, mostly from the girls, but the boys just patted me on the back.

That night, my head was racked with nightmares. Hades' threat completing, Poseidon killing Jason, Kyle dying via lightning bolt. I would shriek a bit and cover my mouth so I wouldn't wake anyone else up. I really hoped this matter would be over soon.

The next day, I visited Kyle and Jason in the infirmary. Jason was well enough to get up and around, so I suggested we take a walk. We did and we had a lot of time to formulate a plan.

"So, did you kill the thing?" Jason asked me. I shook my head dejectedly.

"I don't think so." I mumbled, "But I definitely stalled it. I don't think a fall like that would feel too good." Jason laughed, which surprised me because that was a pretty straightforward sarcastic comment, the very thing he scolded me about a few days before.

"Any new updates with your dad?" I asked.

"I had a dream last night." Jason said.

I asked him about the dreams.

"Well, I asked him if he had any suspects," He said, "except Kyle of course. He had to think for a while, and then he suggested that the Titans may be at work again."

"The Titans?" I asked, "Are you absolutely sure he said 'Titans'?" Jason nodded. "Oh no…" I rubbed my temples, "The Titans were bad news… They had a big war between the gods, and they lost. They've hated the gods ever since."

"So," Jason said, "What now?"

Guess what decided to kick in just then? Lack of common sense powers, ACTIVATE!

"We'll need to sneak out of camp." I decided. "We'll leave as soon as Kyle is well enough to walk. Deal?" I stuck my hand out. Jason shook it.

It didn't take long for Kyle to heal up. We told him about our plan, and he shifted from foot to foot.

"Honestly, I don't think it's a good idea, you guys." Kyle muttered. "It'd be safer to stay here."

"Yeah," I agreed, then jerked my thumb at Jason, "For him. We're in deep trouble. Believe it or not, but Zeus can get to you here, and Hades can get to me."

"She has a point." Jason encouraged, "Actually point_**s**_. Come on, Kyle. You're the one that usually is up for this stuff!"  
Kyle sighed, and nodded, "Let's try not to get killed, alright?"

That night, I packed up and snuck out of Poseidon cabin. Percy stirred a little when I creaked open the door. I froze until he went back to sleep, and then I left.

I met up with the guys at the crest of the hill. Jason and Kyle had their backpacks. They looked ready to leave, so I started walking out of camp. About twenty feet down the hill, I ran into the worst thing I've ever encountered, like a bug that wouldn't go away. The Hunters of Artemis.

I planned on running into Artemis' tent and yell at her to leave me the Tartarus alone. But she was the one who came to me, and boy did I have to hold back my anger. She looked the same as she did the first time I met her, but she looked a little tired, restless.

"I need to have a word with you, my dear." Sure you do, I thought irritably. But, something compelled me to move forward and walk with her. She put her arm around my shoulders, and a chill ran down my back, and suddenly, I wasn't there anymore. I was on the moon. I kid you not! On. The. FREAKING. Moon. I suppose that since Artemis was the goddess of the moon, she could do that. Thank the gods I could breathe; otherwise… well, it would pretty much suck.

"You must hate me," Artemis said, "But I am begging you now; the Cetus is still on the loose, and you may be the only half-blood available to stop it. So I implore you please join the Hunt." I sighed and shook my head. Here was a goddess… Whoa, a flipping _goddess_ was begging me to do something. But still…

"Look," I groaned, "You've asked me three, wait, make that FOUR times. And yet, I still say NO. And I will always say NO. Now, if you could just get me back on Earth. In case you haven't heard, I have less than a week left to live, as do Jason and Kyle. I need to get back to my quest." I started to walk off and wait for Artemis to take me back home.

Artemis took a deep breath. "I hear you need information about the whereabouts of the Titans." I stopped in my tracks.

"How did you-?"

Artemis grinned, "I have information on the Titans that are still on the loose. Perhaps we could come to some kind of… arrangement." She crossed her arms and waited for me to agree.

"So, you want me to join the Hunters and defeat the Cetus… in exchange for information." I said, trying to get it. Artemis nodded.  
"It will only be for a short while, but you must follow all of our rules." Artemis said. "Do you agree to my terms, half-blood?" I sighed, and nodded.

"Fine, I'll join. But don't expect me to like it." I made a pledge. Making that pledge, I basically just threw my life away.

"I _temporarily _pledge myself to the goddess Artemis." I mumbled. "I _temporarily _turn my back on the company of men. I _temporarily _accept eternal maidenhood, and _temporarily_ join the Hunt. There, are you happy now?"

When Artemis finally took me back, I went to tell Kyle and Jason. I knew before I got there that they weren't going to take it well. When I found them, Jason was practicing swinging his sword, and Kyle was sharpening his own weapon with a rock. When they saw me, they stopped what they were doing.

"Hey." Kyle said, smiling. "How'd your talk go? Are we going to have to take off again?" I shook my head. I must've looked funny, because Jason came up to me.

"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked.

I swallowed nervously. "I… I just joined the Hunters." I barely whispered. Kyle dropped the rock, and Jason dropped his sword. They both looked like deer in headlights.

"What?" They asked in unison. Then they both started yelling at me like, "What are you thinking?" and, "Are you CRAZY?" Kyle ran up and grabbed my shoulders. "Please tell me you're kidding! Laugh and say you're joking!" I shook my head.

"Well," Jason sighed and rubbed his head, "We can deal with the Hunters. We'll help you through this."  
"That's the other thing," I moaned, "I have to follow all the rules… Including the no male comrade thing…" There was another eerie silence from the boys. I saw their eyes tear up a bit.

"But," Kyle complained, "We're friends! You can't just ditch us!"  
"It's not like I want to!" I snapped, "Artemis offered information about the Titans! We only have four days left until… well, you know."

Jason was about to say something, but Kyle interrupted, "No offense, but you're kind of the leader in our group. What're we going to do without you?"

"First off," I yelled back, "I'm NOT the leader. I'm not even the oldest, Jason is! And I'm not the most powerful, that'd be you Kyle! I'm… Well, I'm just a screw up!"  
Jason shook his head, "You've GOT to stop doing that, Emma. And I still can't believe you'd join the Hunters! What are we going to do while you're gone? Just sit down and wait? I don't know about you two, but I don't think Artemis will follow through on her deal."

"I'm sorry, guys." I said, "But this is happening, so… Just head back to camp. I'll send a message if anything goes wrong. I promise." But something told me that I wouldn't be sending that message. Maybe it'd be too late.

Chapter Seventeen: Monsters REALLY Bite.

My time with the Hunters of Artemis can only be described as the worst of tortures in the Fields of Punishment. I hate being around cliquey girls at school. All they talked about were rumors and teen pop stars. It drove me nuts. That's why I hung out with guys. They usually don't talk about people they thought were 'hot' or 'gorgeous', and I liked that.

However, the Hunters were no exception to girlish habits. All I heard was 'like, oh my gods!' and 'I know! Isn't he?' After a while, I walked next to Thalia so I wouldn't turn around and kill one of my temporary comrades.

"How are you holding up?" She asked me after a few yards of silence. I shrugged.

"Too soon to tell," I mumbled. "I just hope we can find this stupid thing fast. How do you deal with that on a regular basis?"

Thalia chuckled, "I guess I just got used to it over time. But, at least you get to get away from all of this soon. I'm stuck here forever." I wanted to ask why, but Thalia's body language told me she didn't want to talk about it any more. I fell back in line some of the other Hunters and took out my iPod (Thank Poseidon there was a setting to listen to music without it turning into the sword when I put it on shuffle.).

Artemis was ahead of us by maybe seventeen feet, but as she moved, the world around her blurred. I figured that she was doing her whole, 'I'm-a-goddess-so-I-can-move-really-fast' thing. We all seemed to be going fast too. I guess we all could do that too. Go figure.

All of a sudden, Artemis stopped. The other Hunters suddenly tensed up and pulled out their bows. I took off my headphones and activated my sword.

"It's here." Artemis said in a hushed voice. I looked around, confused. I saw a rushing waterfall, and a viewing deck for tourists. I leaned over to one of the Hunters.

"This is Niagara Falls. You guys _do_ realize this, right?" I asked, concerned. I'd already been to the falls in Canada, but never to the New York side. The hunter shushed me. I straightened indignantly. "Well then!" I huffed quietly.

Artemis was acting really weird. She was pressing her face to the ground, and sniffing around. It looked strange. You'd think she'd be able to, you know, just sense the thing. She started walking towards the falls and we followed.  
As we go to the edge of the water, I felt a rumbling beneath my feet, and the Cetus burst out of the water. I don't know if it was possible, but it was more ugly than last time we met.

It sniffed, and stared right at me. It bared its fangs, and it snapped at me. The thing would've eaten me if Thalia didn't shoot it with one of her arrows.

"I'm just guessing here," Thalia yelled over the pained roars of the Cetus, "But I don't think that thing likes you!" I shook my head.

"Not at all!" I confirmed.

"Emma!" Artemis shouted, "Distract the beast! We will take care of the rest!" I took off around the thing, and I had no trouble keeping its attention. It must've hated me after it's little drop in the ocean. So, as you can imagine, it wanted to get even.

Our plan worked… for about seven minutes. The Cetus' skin must've been Hunter-proof, because the only weak links in its body were its mouth and eyes, which were hard to aim at with the thing constantly moving around.

The Hunters were getting their immortal butts kicked because in less than ten minutes, the only ones standing were Thalia, Artemis, me and one other Hunter. And less than a minute later, the unnamed Huntress went down, unconscious.

"Any ideas?" Thalia yelled to me over the monster's roars. I shook my head. "Lady Artemis?" Artemis shot an arrow that bounced off of the Cetus' head harmlessly.

"I cannot find any weaknesses!" Artemis wailed. The monster still had its gaze trained on me. I jumped to the side to avoid one of its claws. Just then it swiped its hand, and sent Thalia flying into a tree. She cried out, and sank into sleep.

"Artemis!" I yelled, "You're the goddess! Can't you, like, vaporize it or something?"

"I already told you!" Artemis countered, "I cannot find an opening! We're doomed!" That was great to hear from a goddess. We were done for.

"STAY AWAY FROM OUR FRIEND!" I heard two boys yell. Jason and Kyle jumped from a nearby tree and onto the Cetus' head. Kyle drew his sword, and it sank into the things nose. I made a screeching noise that must've been its way of saying, "OW! WHAT KIND OF KLEENEX IS THIS?"

Jason clung to its neck for dear life. I could just watch. The Cetus came onto land and crawled up the hill, toward the tourist bridge. Jason crawled up to the top of the monster's head and unsheathed his sword and swung around, and got his sword to keep the monster's mouth shut.

The monster made one last cry, and it began to disintegrate. Jason and Kyle almost fell with the monster down the falls. I stopped the flow around the boys so they wouldn't plummet down. Then, as the falls turned gold with the monster's dust, I lowered the boys down really slowly.

I helped the boys up and turned to glare at Artemis.

"No offense," I yelled at the tired goddess, "But this is too high risk! The things dead, so I'm out of here!" I hugged Kyle and Jason, showing that I was done with the Hunters. We ran off probably before Artemis even registered my leaving.

We ran for what felt like forever when we finally took a break. Both of the boys were exhausted. I flopped down on my back and almost fell asleep. Jason and Kyle both came up to me and hugged me. I blushed, sighed, and hugged them back.

"It's good to be back you guys." I said. As I sat back, I heard a sound like paper crumbling. I reached into my pocket and found a small scroll. Kyle looked at it quizzically.

"What is it?" Jason asked. I shrugged and opened it. Three guesses that it was from? Come on. You people are smart! It was from Artemis.

" 'Dear my young demigod," I read aloud, " 'Thank you for helping stop this retched creature. I have not forgotten our agreement. If I had to offer you a probable Titan suspect, I couldn't say whom exactly. But there is a Titan on the loose. He has been known to dwell in theme parks around the Midwest area. Was it Tricks Flags? You probably know which park I'm talking about. You're a smart half-blood, whether you believe it or not. Thank you again for helping me. Artemis.'"

"Dang." Kyle said. "That was helpful. Tricks Flags?"

I smiled. "I think I know what she's talking about. Let's rest for a bit though."

"Emma, we only have two days left." Jason argued. "Where is this park anyways?"  
"Jason." Kyle chided, "Artemis was talking about Six Flags." I nodded.

"Anyone up for a vacation?" I asked.

Chapter Eighteen: More Flags More Fun

You wouldn't believe how many nice people there are in this lovely country that will pick up random teenage hitchhikers on the side of the road. We got rides all the way to the park. We snuck in before the park opened, and hid in the bathrooms until people started showing up.

It had to be a huge day for park going, because there must've been thousands of people. Families milled around, clogging up the lines to the rides. The chances of us finding the goddesses in here were astronomical. That is a truly large word for a demigod like me.

"This is a problem…" Kyle muttered. That was an understatement.

Jason scoffed. "You think? There's like a zillion people here." I looked around hopelessly. We were right in front of the Raging Bull, and it looked crazy. I've never been real up for roller coasters, especially ones like these.

After about five minutes, I saw it. There was something odd about the passengers on the ride. There was one lady who wouldn't get off the ride. Everyone else would just move about in a natural roller coaster line way, but not this lady.

"Hey guys." I pointed up at the woman on the ride. "Don't you think that's a little strange?" The boys looked at where I directed, and they got puzzled looks on their faces.

"Do you mean the lady who keeps riding the Raging Bull?" Jason guessed. I nodded. Jason smirked. "Let's get in line."

Roller coasters were never one of my favorite things, depending on its size. So, if any of you have ever been on the Raging Bull, you could guess that I wasn't too thrilled. But if it meant that this whole issue would be over, it was worth it. I got in the ride next to the woman we thought was one of the goddesses.

As the ride started, I looked at the lady next to me, and asked her a question over the noise. "Are you okay?"

She looked at me, kind of startled. When I looked at her more closely, I faintly saw some kind of chain. It was like a mirage, but it was there.

"Who are you?" She squeaked loudly. "What do you want?"

"My name's Emma!" I shouted, "Who are you?"

"PersephoNEEEEE!" That last part was when there was a big drop. We both screamed, and when it steadied and wasn't as scary, I started talking again.

"How'd you get here?" I asked. Persephone shook her head.

"No clue!" She yelled morosely, "I don't know at all! Help me!"

"But," I yelled, "I don't know how!" That's when the ride ended; I had to get off of the ride. Persephone struggled against the near invisible chains. I sighed and looked back helplessly.

"We'll come back!" I promised her. She looked like she wanted to say something, but the ride began and took her away. I met up with the guys outside of the ride, and told them about Persephone.

"That's one down," Kyle said, "Two to go. But where are we supposed to find them?" Jason shrugged. I shook my head dejectedly. Kyle yawned and walked off towards Hurricane Harbor.

"Where are you going?" Jason yelled.

"Duh. I'm going to go to the water park. It's way too freaking hot outside." Jason and I weren't going to leave him alone, so we followed him.

If it was possible, Hurricane Harbor had twice as many people as the park did. It was a really hot day, so everyone wanted to go to the water park to cool off. The boys and I looked around, powerless. There was no chance of finding a goddess here. But as usual, I was wrong.

"Wait a second…" Jason ran over to the wave pool. Basically, what happens is there is a lot of water, and every like, thirty seconds, a buzzer goes off, and a wave goes out. Every time, the wave is bigger, so it's fun if you like chlorine in your eyes.

"There!" Jason yelled. He ran over to the pool, ignoring the life guards shouts. We followed Jason and saw what he was yelling about. There was a woman there in the water, in the same semi invisible chains that Persephone was in.

"Who are you?" Jason asked the woman. The lady sat up from the last wave.

"Hera!" She yelled. "Who are you?"

"Son of Zeus!" Jason yelled. Hera spat out some water at him. "Hey! What was that for?" Jason shouted indignantly.

"Never you mind, mortal!" Hera snapped. "Now release me!" A buzzer went off, and a wave crashed right into Hera's face. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing, so did Kyle. The goddess shook the water out of her hair from the wave.

"Would you just get me out of here?" She screamed at us. I looked at Jason and he called for a huddle.

"I say we leave her here for a while." I muttered.

"Well, Sherlock," Kyle murmured, "If we don't save her, I will _**die**_."

I glared at him, "Fine. But can we at least wait a little? She's mean." Jason shrugged.

"Whatever." Jason said, "We'll wait until the park closes to get the goddesses, alright?"

"We still need to find one more goddess." I reminded him. He looked at me for a second, the buzzer went off and a wave hit us in the face. I snickered, as the boys got drenched. I basically was impervious to getting soaked, so it was even funnier than it would be normally.

"Well, let's leave her here for now," Jason said, "We'll come back to get Hera later."

"WHAT?" Hera squealed indignantly. I guess she heard us. "I AM THE QUEEN OF THE GODS! I AM-!" That last part was cut off because she got a wave to the face. That time, I couldn't hold in my laughter, so I walked away to laugh in safety.

Jason and Kyle joined me in a few minutes.

"Did she stop freaking out?" I asked. Kyle nodded.

"She can hold up until the park closes." Jason responded. "Come on, you guys. Let's head back to the park. We still have to find Amphitrite."

The park was only open for a few more hours, so we had to act fast. There was something that was peculiar about where the goddesses were hidden. I pointed it out to the boys and they thought about this.

"Well, let's think about this." Kyle thought for a few seconds. "Persephone is the goddess of… What again?"

"Springtime." I muttered. "A useful skill, no doubt."

"Okay… so that applies to flowers, grass, and probably any other plants in the area." Jason decided. I nodded, thinking it made sense.

"She's on the Raging Bull, right?" I asked, "That thing is consistently in motion. So, she never has the chance to get near any plants."

"Therefore," Kyle concluded, "She was held there for a reason."

"Okay…" Jason said. "And Hera was in the water. That's Poseidon's territory. That's probably why Zeus couldn't find her."

"That makes sense." I said. "So Amphitrite would be somewhere that Poseidon can't find her. So either she's underground, or…" I heard screams from one of the rides and looked in the direction.

"Found Amphitrite." I said. The boys looked where I was looking, and Jason smiled.

"I love this ride!" Jason said, almost evilly, as he looked up at the Giant Drop.

As we were strapped in the ride, I was more scared than I had ever been in my LIFE. Kyle and Jason had told me of the ride, which they had been on before. When we get to the top, there's this click, and you basically freefall all they way down.

We started to go up, and I said the smartest thing one person could say after a ride has already started.

"I don't wanna go." I muttered under my breath, "Let me off this ride. I want to get off. Get. Me. Off. This. Ride."

"Too late." A man said next to me. I looked at the man. He was tall, with long black hair in a ponytail. His face was tan and handsome, but horribly scarred. It looked as if a small crazed animal had been let loose on his face.

I closed my eyes as I felt a jerk on the ride. After I was sure that the ride wouldn't explode, I opened my eyes. The strange guy was gone. Horrified, I looked down, thinking the guy had fallen to his death, but there was nothing. Before I could wonder if it had been my imagination, we reached the top.

I swiveled my head around and I saw her. Amphitrite had black flowing hair, sea green eyes, and pale skin. The same chains were wrapped around her. She saw me, and her eyes grew wide.

"Daughter of Poseidon!" She exclaimed, "You must help me!" I heard a click, and Jason screamed as he flew down. I didn't have much time.

"We'll help you!" I promised her, "Just wait a little-." CLICK. I screamed as I flew down the ride. My face stretched crazily into a whacky smile until the ride ended. As Jason and I waited for Kyle to get down, I was trying to remember how to breathe. When Kyle came off, we walked off, and made a plan.

Our operation was short, simple and to the point. Step one: Free the goddesses. Step two: Find out who kid- goddess-napped them. Step three: Kick that person's butt. Get it? Got it? Good.

We hid in the bathrooms until the park closed. We met up at the American Eagle ride.

"Alright," Jason passed out walkie-talkies that we'd gotten from the security station. He clapped his hands together, "Emma, you will get…?"

"Persephone." I confirmed. "I'll have to figure out the controls in the control room, but that shouldn't take too long."

"Good." Jason smiled, "And Kyle?"

"I'll get Hera." He muttered unenthusiastically, "I'll just get her out in between waves."

"Excellent." Jason encouraged. "And I'll get Amphitrite. I'll climb up a service ladder, or something, and get her down somehow. We'll all meet up at the control room, got it?"

"Got it." Kyle and I chimed. And, with that, we went to work.

Chapter Nineteen: BATTLE ROYALE!

Remember how I said that hacking the controls would be easy? Well, I need to work on this 'lying' problem of mine. The controls were slightly harder to work than Microsoft Word on my computer at home. There were levers, switches, and big red buttons; the kind that presidents in alien movies debate about pushing.

"Uhh…" I fumbled through my pockets and pulled out the walkie-talkie. "Kyle. Jason. Come in. PLEASE." There was some feedback from the boys' end, and someone picked up.

"Emma?" Kyle's voice came on the other line, "You okay?"

"Yeah," I responded, "I just don't know how to deal with these controls here."

There was silence for a few minutes, and then Kyle said, "Just stab the controls with your sword. That should make them stop, right?"

"Are you KIDDING ME?" I yelled, "You want me to stab the freaking controls?"

"Yeah." Kyle said, "Is that a problem?"  
"No…" I said, "I think it's… brilliant. Thanks for the idea." I hung up on the walkie-talkie. I took out my sword, and stabbed the controls. Thank goodness I let go of the sword, because the electricity was visible on my sword literally for about seven minutes. I used some janitor's gloves to get my sword dislodged from the controls.

I looked on the cameras, that were miraculously still working, and I saw that the Raging Bull had stopped at the entrance to the ride. I made sure that the sword wasn't still electrified, and I ran off to save Persephone.

As I approached the Raging Bull, I heard crickets chirping and a mosquito buzz past my ears. When I reached the car, I cut the chains around Persephone, and offered her my hand.

"Are you alright?" I asked the goddess as she got up.

"Yes," She said in a small voice, "Thank you, demigod." I shrugged.

"Come on," I turned around. "Let's get to the control room. We just have a few questions for you three. Then you'll be on your merry way back to… wherever it is you go…"

We were the first ones to arrive at the control room. I looked at the cameras and saw the boys getting the goddesses out of their various rides/traps.

When Kyle and Jason showed up with the goddess, we started to ask them some questions.

"So, Amphitrite…" I had rung my fingers together, "Do you remember who kidnapped you?"

"Hera, Persephone." Jason looked towards the other goddesses. "Same question." Amphitrite and Persephone looked confused for a while as they thought. Hera barely looked phased with this question.

"It was a man…" Amphitrite reported. "And… he had long black hair…"

Persephone clapped her hands together as if she just got a breakthrough. "And he had scars, all over his face. And he was big and buff, with huge muscles!"

"It was Prometheus." Hera announced. All of us turned towards her in shock.

"P-Prometheus?" I squeaked, "Oh boy…"

"What is it now?" Kyle groaned.

"Prometheus is a TITAN, dude!" I reminded him, "Titans are bad. Very bad. Stronger than the gods, even! No offense." I acknowledged the goddesses. Persephone barely looked like she registered the question. Amphitrite shrugged indifferently. The only one that seemed truly offended was Hera. Whatever. She was, what? the goddess of marriage and… cows? I didn't really care as of right then.

"Well," Amphitrite piped up, "You have rescued us. Our husbands will all reward you no doubt, so may we leave?"

"Yes," I said, "You can go." The goddesses started talking with each other like old friends. I looked at my watch, and my eyes went wide.

"PEOPLE! WE HAVE FIFTEEN MINUTES TO LIVE! GET OUTTA HERE!" With that, the goddesses vanished into thin air.

"So, we saved the goddesses." Kyle clapped his hands together with finality. "Let's head back to camp!" He started to walk off, but I grabbed the back of his shirt.

"No, no, no," I chided, "We've got to defeat Prometheus."

"Are you CRAZY?" Jason said.

"Probably." I admitted, "But we do have to stop him, you two."

Kyle looked at me as if I dropped from space. "We only have, what? Ten minutes left, and then you and I bite the dust. You want to waste that time chasing Titans?"

I shook my head. "The goddesses just returned to wherever they were supposed to be now, so the gods will be happy. Yippy Kai Ai, we're not gonna die, so we may as well fight him, right?"

There was a slight pause… "No." Jason countered, "We could go back to camp, and LIVE. You said it yourself, Titans are stronger than gods. It'd be best if we just cut our losses and go back to camp. We'll deal with Prometheus later. WITH BACK-UP." I shook my head and took out my sword.

"We need to deal with this now. If you want to leave, go ahead, but I can take him." As I began to walk off, Kyle walked next to me. I looked at him gratefully. To be perfectly honest, I knew I wouldn't be able to defeat Prometheus on my own. I felt safer knowing Kyle would at least stand by me.

I heard Jason groan and walk along next to me on the other side. I sighed, but not sarcastically for once. I didn't want to tell them out loud, but if they hadn't come, I probably would've died. But now, at least, we had a better chance.

We searched the park for what seemed like hours. Prometheus was nowhere to be found. I suggested that we split up, but Jason said no. So, we stuck together and searched the rest of the park. Nothing.

"Now what, genius?" Jason asked testily. I shot a nasty glare in his direction, and continued walking. Kyle caught up with me, and we walked along in silence. All of a sudden, a blazing light appeared in front of us. We looked away. When we turned back, we saw a tall guy with a black ponytail, a tanned, but horribly scarred face, and a black suit. The same guy I had seen on the ride.

"Congrats," the man said, "I guess you found me, demigods. Well, I must admit, I'm impressed."

"Prometheus." I growled. Don't ask me how I knew that, but I did. "And, no offense, you found us."

"Touché." Prometheus mused, "Very well played, demigod. Now… I don't wish to fight you three. I am actually very fond of half bloods."

"Fond enough to try to get us killed?" Jason snapped.

Prometheus flinched sarcastically, "Ooh, that hurts, son of Zeus." He looked at Kyle, "What about you, son of Hades? You haven't said a word."

Kyle growled, "I don't talk to people that try to kill my friends. Vulture-chow." We all simultaneously unsheathed our swords. Prometheus backed off for a second; as if he were surprised we actually took a stand against him. But the look faded as quickly as it appeared.

"Wow, I guess the gloves are off now. We're gonna have to do this the hard way, eh?" Prometheus sighed. "Well, just because you're kids, don't think I'll go easy on you." He snapped his fingers, and a large sword appeared in his hand. Please do not ask me for details, because, as soon as the thing was in his hands, we charged.

Jason attacked front and center. Kyle and I attacked from the other sides. You can say all you want about how bad the Titans were, but Prometheus was a good fighter. None of us could land a single blow. Not even Jason, and he could go really freaking fast.

Kyle did a somersault and was very close to nailing Prometheus in the back. But Prometheus moved too quickly and he just vanished. We stood back to back, defensively, and looked around.

"There!" Jason yelled, "Up at the top of the Superman ride!"

I looked, and sure enough, there he was on the top of the ride. Jason jumped up, LITERALLY up into the air, and onto the crown of the ride. All I saw of Jason and Prometheus was two ant-sized things going back and forth like they were fighting.

"We have to help him!" I ran towards the ride, but Kyle held me back.

"No. Jason's doing okay by himself." I was a little wary. I tried complaining, but Kyle assured me, "Don't you think if he was doomed, I would be able to tell?"

This was true, and there was another flaw to my plan. How the heck would I get up there? Yeesh… Why does everyone else have a logical plan waiting?

Just then, there was a scream, and Prometheus crashed to the ground, with his weapon next to him. He had a new cut on his face, and his blood was golden, like, liquid gold. Prometheus struggled to his feet and got his sword aimed at us.

"Your friend is rather strong…" He panted as he wiped the blood from his face. "But will you two be enough to face me?" He attacked and Kyle intercepted.

"Back off!" Kyle yelled. "Emma! Run!" I began to protest, but he pushed me back. I fell on my butt, and they started fighting. I tried to help Kyle fight but I couldn't get an opening. After about five minutes of trying unsuccessfully to help, I ran to the ride to get Jason.

"YO! SPARKY!" Ooh! That's my new nickname for Jason. Score. "Get down here! We need your help!" Jason looked down, angry at my new way to irritate him. So, just to give me a heart attack, he jumped off the freaking thing.

When he landed, he brushed off his pants, as if he jumped off a playground slide, not the freaking Superman ride. I promised myself that I'd ask him how the heck he did that.

"Situation?" Jason asked. I told him that Kyle was fighting Prometheus. After hearing that, Jason took off, me following closely behind.

Kyle's fight wasn't going too well. He had a real nasty cut on his arm, and he was swaying back and forth. Kyle dropped his sword, and when Prometheus was about to hack him in half, I intercepted, and somehow twisted Prometheus' sword out of his hand.

"You can take him!" Jason shouted, "I'll take care of Kyle!"

I stared Prometheus in the eye, my sword aimed at his throat. He was defenseless. This was the perfect opportunity to take him out. But something held me back; a question I had to ask him.

"Since I'm a nice person… I'm going to go easy on you… But first I have a question, and you better answer me… Are there any more Titans on the loose?" I asked, pointing my sword dangerously close to his immortal neck. He looked around, as if there was someone else here. Then he turned back, with a wicked grin on his face.

"Oh, if only you knew how many, half-blood." He shook his head, chuckling to himself. I jabbed my sword even closer towards the jerk's throat.

"Tell me how many!" I threatened, "Or you won't be doing any laughing for a while." Prometheus chuckled again.

"You know, I have information on more than just the Titans…" He paused for maximum effect. "Something about your poor, hopeless sibling." I froze.

"My what?" I lowered my sword. Prometheus sneered and in a brilliant flash of light, he was gone.

Jason and Kyle ran over to me. I was still pretty shocked myself, but the guys patted me on the back.

"Well…" Kyle grunted, "That was kind of awkward."

"Gee..." I muttered, "You think?" Jason looked like he wanted to yell at me for the sarcasm, but before he could I spun around, and said, "Please tell me that I'm not the only one who wants to go back to camp. Our quest was over, like, twenty minutes ago."

Chapter Twenty: Camp Sweet Camp

We made another Iris message to Camp from Hurricane Harbor. We weren't sure who to call exactly, but we ended up calling Chiron. When he showed up on the other side of the misty screen, we yelled to get his attention.

"Oh!" Chiron's face broke into a huge grin, "You three are still alive. That's excellent. How did it all turn out?" We told him the story, and he was silent for such a long time.

"Well," Chiron thought a little more, "We will send a few Pegasi to collect you three. See you back at Camp." He waved his hand in front of the screen and it vanished.

It took about seven minutes before the Pegasus trio showed up. There was Porkpie, the Pegasus that Percy was riding, and one other Pegasus.

_Hey, _the black Pegasus said, _the name's Blackjack! You guys need a ride back to Camp Half-Blood? Well, Chiron sent the right horses._

We mounted the horses. Jason got on Porkpie, Kyle got on the Pegasus that didn't introduce itself, and I got on Blackjack. The horses whinnied, zoomed up into the sky, and off into the night. It was then that I realized just how tired I was. I fell asleep on Blackjack's back and didn't stir until we arrived at camp.

Coming home from camp was something I could only describe as a kindergartener coming home from school for the first time. All my cabin mates were there to greet me. Now, imagine a gigantic circle of your… twelve siblings wrapping you in a huge death hug. You'll get somewhere close to what kind of welcoming committee the Poseidon cabin made up.

According to camp tradition, we had a feast in our honor, and afterwards, we led a precession down to the amphitheater to burn the burial shrouds that our cabins had made for us in our absence. Kyle's was black with a skull on the front. Jason's was light blue with a neon lightning bolt on the front. Mine was green with a teal trident on the front. When it burned, the smoke from each of our shrouds was a different color. So, when they all mixed it was a dark blue green color. It looked kind of scary, but nice.

That night, we had a meeting with all the cabin leaders. Most of them were about Percy's age, but those from the minor gods' cabins were only about one or two years older than us.

"Now, I know most of you may be wondering why we called this meeting…" Chiron was in his wheelchair, which he used in the mortal world when he needed to go undercover. Dionysus was swirling his Diet Coke with a straw. I only recognized a few of the campers in the room; Percy, Annabeth, Nico, Connor and Travis Stoll. There were at least twenty more kids in the room, but I didn't know any of them.

"Well, let's have it." The leader for Demeter cabin, Katie Gardener, said with a firm tone. Chiron cleared his throat.

"There was a new development on the Titans on the quest of these three heroes. He gestured to us. He told the others about what Prometheus had told me. Percy and Annabeth went pale, put their hands together and held them tight.

"Well…" Percy said, "Did Prometheus tell you how many Titans are on the loose?" I shook my head sadly.

"No. Sorry Percy." I sighed and put my head on the table.

"Anyways…" Chiron said, eager to change the subject, "Unless there is anything left to discuss, meeting adjourned."

"Emma." Percy grabbed my shoulder on our way out, "That isn't all that Prometheus told you is it?" I wanted to go back to the cabin and sleep, but Percy had this look in his eyes… He knew I was hiding something.

"He… He said something about a 'poor hopeless sibling'." I muttered. If it was possible, Percy went paler than he did when we talked about the Titans. He thought for a second.

"None of the kids in our cabin have gone missing… So it must've been someone who hasn't been claimed." He thought for a few more seconds.

"We'll talk more…" I yawned, "In the morning. For now, let's just get some sleep."

The next morning, I reported to breakfast. We were all talking and joking around, waiting for Chiron to do the morning announcements.

"Campers! A new day at camp! Let's try not to break any limbs today. Enjoy your breakfast."

We all dug into our pancakes and sausage. The kids at my cabin were all right, at least freaked out than they yesterday. The people at Jason's table were laughing like nothing had happened the past few days. Kyle's table was just like it usually was, kids laughing, and having a nice time. I guess most of everything was back to normal. But there was something odd about Jason's table. Marco was sitting there with a weird expression on his face. As if he wasn't sure he was supposed to be sitting there.

After breakfast, Poseidon cabin had chores. Thankfully it wasn't stable cleaning, just some work in the strawberry fields. From what I know, Camp Half-Blood's cover was Delphi Strawberry farms or something. Percy had told me at some point, but I must've forgotten.

Thank the gods that Demeter cabin was helping us out. Our strategy was that Katie Gardener and her siblings would make the plants grow, and we would pick them.

At one point, I was next to one camper from Demeter's cabin who I hadn't seen before. She had wispy blonde hair that went down to her elbows, and a few freckles across her cheeks. The girl looked about my age and was a little taller than me. Her eyes were hazel, but she looked as if she'd been crying a lot lately.

"Are you okay?" I asked her, concerned. She looked at me kind of startled, like she didn't know I was there. The girl waved her hand in front of the plant in front of us, and it burst into color.

"Fine…" She said almost inaudibly. She sniffed and turned away. Usually when someone gives me the sign that they don't want to talk, I take that hint and leave them alone. But something compelled me to pursue this talk.

"You know," I said rocking back and forth on my knees, "I'm new here, so I don't know you're name. What is it?"

"Amber," she replied somberly. "Amber Sutton. You're Percy's sister, right?" I nodded. "Oh…"

"Are you sure nothing's wrong?" I put my hand on her shoulder. Hopefully she'd continue. She didn't. She got up, sniffled, and ran off, making the plants wilt sadly.

That night, I was in my cabin and rubbing my head, which was in full migraine mode. My foot was twitching for some reason, maybe ADHD… Percy plopped down next to me and ruffled my hair.

"Hey, little sister." He said with a smile, and pointed at my foot, "Still have post-quest jitters? Don't worry, it goes away after a week or so." He patted my back, and got up. I shrugged, and continued to rub my temples.

That night, I could barely get a wink of sleep. When I finally did fall asleep, I was in the familiar underwater palace of my father.

There wasn't much that was different than when I was there last. Poseidon was sitting on his throne, smiling at me. At this point, I wasn't sure if the smile meant, "Ah, there's my daughter." Or "So, little traitor, come to fight me?" I was wary, and waited for my dad to start the conversation.

"My daughter…" Poseidon shifted in his seat uncomfortably, "You have done well on your quest." Woo… How's that for motivating? Note: this is a flipping GREEK GOD giving me praise for a quest that I mostly screwed up on. Sweet.

"Hi dad…" I said nervously, "What did you want?" I really hoped that didn't sound that strange, or sarcastic as I usually sounded. But I was getting really worried about why he called me here via dream. This was getting weird…

"Anyways." Poseidon continued, "According to you and your… friends, the Titan's are making a comeback." He paused when he said friends. I knew that he was talking about Kyle and Jason. I wanted to roll my eyes, but that would probably earn me a quick entrance back into the Underworld, which I didn't want.

"Yeah…" I muttered, "We couldn't even defeat one of them, let alone however many are going to be out and about if we don't stop them." I plopped down in the middle of the throne room, and put my head in my hands. "If you could let me have a night that I don't have to worry about having weird dreams that make no sense, that'd be great."

That's when Poseidon did something that I thought a god would never do. He came up and hugged me. I wasn't exactly sure what to think then. Part of me thought that this was kind of nice that my dad showed some affection, despite the fact that I'd talked back to him and sent his monster flying to the bottom of the sea, and then helping a friend kill the thing.

"You have done well." Poseidon acknowledged. "I'm proud of you, Emma." That's when I woke up. I sighed and shook my head, getting over the shock of my father saying something that he was proud of me. Yeesh, I thought, I've seriously got to get some sleep. When I fell asleep, I didn't wake up until the morning. Let me say this. There is nothing, and I mean NOTHING, better than a good night's sleep with a smile on your face.

The next day, Poseidon cabin had Pegasus riding lessons. Zeus' cabin was with us. As I mounted my Pegasus, I looked over and saw Jason. But he wasn't getting on a Pegasus. Remember that Griffin from earlier? Yeah, that's what he was riding.

"Why do you have that thing here?" I squeaked, nervously pointing to the monster.

"Oh, Ace?" Jason said, petting 'Ace' on the head.

"You… named the thing?" I asked, stunned. Jason nodded, and looked at me like it was completely normal to name a potentially bloodthirsty monster.

I hopped off of the Pegasus. As I approached the monster, it made this noise in the base of its throat, which sounded like growling. When I got too close, it snapped at me and almost clipped off of my fingers.

"I'm just going to…" I pointed to the Pegasus, "Yeah, I'm just gonna fly up and away." I ran to the magical horse, and didn't want to look at that monster EVER again.

Chapter Twenty-One: Happy Fourth of July!

Camp life went pretty normally for the remainder of the month. Well, normal for Camp Half-Blood. I helped Percy take care of Mrs. O'Leary, the hellhound, and tried to scale the rock-climbing wall with lava pouring down the sides. Kyle and Jason hung out with me a lot, but only during free period. Lunch tables were assigned, and our cabins only had a few classes clashing with each other.

I thought about our prophecy all the time. Most of it had already come true. A trio of damsels in dire distress; those were the goddesses, Amphitrite, Persephone, and Hera. Check. "For which a child of a Titan must confess." It wasn't a god like I had originally thought, but Prometheus. He was the son of Impetus or something. So… check… "A father's creation will threaten his child." Thanks to my dad for recreating the Cetus, that line came true. Check. "A battle with the god who has been exiled." Hades. We kinda figured that from the start. No surprises. Check.

The last two lines were the ones that concerned me the most. "The fight that will never end." That hasn't really made an appearance in our lives so far, and I'm pretty sure that it wasn't my little disagreements with Triton. And, "No matter what, you'll lose a friend." That didn't sound too cheery either. I tried to put it out of my mind, but it kept coming back to haunt me.

June passed without anyone getting maimed or killed. Apparently, that counts as a good month at Camp Half-Blood, according to Percy. July crept into our midst and excited chatter of the Fourth of July fireworks began. According to half of the Aphrodite girls, it was "Like, a major dating opportunity. You guys will be, like the life of the party!" I guess they were telling the truth because Kyle and Jason were talking with a few of the Aphrodite girls.

It wasn't too long before a few boys around camp were coming up to me and asking me to the fireworks. I turned them all down, gently of course, and just waited for the fireworks. Surprisingly enough, Kyle and Jason had turned down the Aphrodite girls, so we watched the fireworks together.

Hephaestus' cabin set up the fireworks on a barge on Long Island Sound. According to pretty much everyone we talked to, the fireworks were supposed to shoot off creating a kind of mini movie in the sky. I couldn't wait until sundown.

We step up a blanket right next to someone that I recognized. It was Amber with someone that I hadn't seen before. The boy was around Amber's age and a little taller than her, with dark brown hair and orange highlights. His eyes were gray, but he looked like he hadn't been sleeping well lately.

Amber was acting weird though. She was holding a small black ball, a stress ball. What did she have to be stressing over? She looked like she'd been crying lately, and I hoped that I wasn't the one that made her cry. I scooted over to them to talk.

"Hey." I said. Amber whipped her head around in shock.

"Oh, it's you again." She sighed, and turned away shaking her head. The boy patted her back and came over by me.

"Sorry about her." He said, and he stuck out his hand. "Hi. I'm Deon, son of Apollo, and Amber's friend." I shook his hand.

"I'm Emma. Nice to meet you." I smiled.

"Ah ha ha, I know you. You just got back from your quest." He clapped me on the shoulder. "Nice work."

I laughed, "I really only killed one monster, and almost got killed like seventeen times."

Deon laughed some more. "You're funny. Well, good thing you succeeded on your quest. I guess the first quest is a charm with you children of Poseidon." I shrugged.

"What's up with the stress ball?" Kyle asked Amber. She looked kind of embarrassed when she realized what she was doing.

"It's nothing…" Amber whispered dejectedly. Deon put his arm around her shoulders, not to make fun of her. It almost looked like he was comforting her.

"Amber is just stressing out over a quest that… that we both failed on." He sighed and looked away.

I wanted to ask a bit more, but then I heard a squeal, and a firework went off and a brilliant flash of red exploded in the sky. I told Deon that I'd talk to him later, waved goodbye to Amber and went back to Kyle and Jason.

The fireworks were ridiculous. There was a freaky lion fighting a huge buff guy that lasted maybe ten of fifteen seconds. I barely had time to register the pure awesomeness of the firework before the next one shot into the sky. This one was a man in a Greek tunic tossing a golden apple up and down. It was Paris, I think.

"Hey, is that the Stoll brothers?" Kyle asked, pointing to two boys carrying a box that took both of them to hold. I knew in my gut that something bad was going to happen.

"Brace yourselves." I warned. Not three minutes after that we heard a huge WHOOOOOOOOM! And then a huge firework shot up into the sky. After the firework exploded, there was a few seconds delay, and then a huge BOOM! Kyle and I flew back and did somersaults. Jason was still sitting up with a crazy smile on his face. I thought that was strange, but I shrugged it off.

The firework shows ended with a pair of warriors fighting and exploding into color. It was awesome. But as soon as they were done, it was time for bed. I had no trouble falling asleep that night, and there were no dreams that night, and I wasn't really that disappointed. I didn't really need any dreams.

The next morning, we had another counselor meeting. I guess Jason, Kyle and I were counselor status for a while. Chiron wasn't there, so Annabeth and Percy led the meeting. Percy cleared his throat for everyone to get quiet.

"All right, everyone. Starting Friday, two days from today, almost everyone is going to be going on recon missions to find potential half bloods. Demeter's cabin and Hades' cabin have already started with these missions. I think it's time the rest of us pitched in."

There was a few seconds of silence and then there was yelling, mostly from the older counselors. Kyle, Jason, and I just sat there, watching the others go back and forth. After about seven minutes of this, stood up and said, "I think it's a good idea." Everyone's heads turned towards me. I blushed. I hated when people looked at me. I sat down, and looked down at the table.

"Well," The Ares counselor, Clarisse snapped, "Why don't you go and look for half-bloods, you punk?" I blushed even more, and shrugged.

"As long as I had some friends with me, I think I'd be okay. When do I leave?" Another silence. Percy looked weird, but Annabeth clapped her hands.

"Okay then." She said kind of happy, "Who wants to go with Emma?" Kyle and Jason volunteered automatically, and so did Steven, the counselor for Apollo cabin.

"Alright." Percy sighed tiredly, "I guess you guys should get packing, eh?"

That afternoon, I went to sword-fighting practice. I needed the practice for my mini quest. Mrs. O'Leary was gnawing on a rubber warrior dummy, and it was squeaking kind of annoyingly. So, instead of sword practice, I ended up playing with the giant hellhound. It's amazing what happens when a demigod is in the presence of a big, friendly Underworld-dwelling dog. On Friday, Jason, Kyle, Steven and I would leave camp. I didn't know it then, but I'd get back to camp sooner than I thought.

Chapter Twenty-Two: Friendly Fire.

We were told to go to Chicago, which, ironically, was where we were all from. Thanks to that fact, we all knew our way around the city. So, after a few hours, we found… nothing.

"Let's take a break everyone." Steven announced. I plopped down on a park bench and took a ponytail out of my hair. Jason and Kyle were walking around, sighing and yawning. After a few minutes, we got up and restarted our search.

I'm not sure how long we looked for demigods, but our search ended when the sun set in the horizon.

"Well," Jason said, "That was an uneventful waste of time." I rolled my eyes.

"Who said it would be easy?" I countered. "We're looking for demigods in the third largest city in America. There are a lot of places we haven't looked yet."

Jason rolled his eyes, and shook his head. I did the same. Steven looked back and forth from Jason to me.

"What's up with them?" He asked Kyle. Kyle shrugged.  
"Even I don't know anymore." Kyle groaned. They got up and started to walk away. I wanted to follow, but Jason's glare kept me still. Other than that, there was something in the back of my mind that made me stay. Imagine if you had a blanket warmer on in the base of your skull. Now imagine if that heat made you angrier than you've ever felt. That's what was kind of happening at that point.

"Let's just get on with it." I muttered, trying not to get as violent as I felt like getting. Jason stiffened, and when I thought he wasn't going to follow, he did.

At around 9:30, when it was getting really dark, I made a proposition.

"Let's find a hotel to crash for tonight, okay?" I offered. Kyle and Steven nodded assent, but Jason was being difficult.

"No, I'll keep looking around." He offered. I shook my head.

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Jay." I said, "What if a monster comes and tries to kill and/or eat you?" Jason took out his cell phone, and shook it back and forth. I sighed, and complained, "What if the monster knocks it out of your hand?"

Kyle patted my head, "That's when his 'son-of-Zeus' powers come in." he made a gun with his fingers. "Remember? He's mister Zappy-Zappy Bang-Bang." He pretended to shoot, and was making firing noises.

I waved my hand dismissively, and said something that probably got me in the next few situations. "Hope you'll do okay without me there with you." Jason whirled around and made me turn around.

"Excuse me, but who had her butt saved more than three times during the freaking quest?" He asked incredulously. "Hmm?"

I scoffed, "And who was it that would be Cetus chow if it wasn't for me?" I crossed my arms, and waited for a response.

Jason got a strange look on his face. I looked down, and saw his fists clench. Before I could fully register what was going to, Jason flat out punched me in the face. I fell to the ground, and clutched my cheek.

"Oh ho-ho," I forced myself to laugh, "It is ON, Sparky!" I lunged wildly at him, but he easily dodged the attack. Kyle and Steven looked a bit shocked, but that quickly faded. Steven drew his bow, and Kyle drew his sword. But since we were all friends, it was hard to aim at either one of us. Before they could make their decision, Jason and I had both of our swords drawn.

When our swords met, the sound of electricity on metal almost killed my ears. I parried a strike, and backed off for a second. Jason barely looked phased by our current situation. He just kept coming back and forth with every move.

There was one time where there was a scary second when Jason looked like he was listening to a voice. Then he put two of his fingers in his mouth and whistled really loudly. About half a second later, I heard a piercing screech, and Ace the Griffin dove down and let Jason mount. Before I got the chance to do something, the monster flew Jason up to the top of the Willis Tower.

The most I could see of him was a tiny speck jumping off a slightly larger speck. I cursed under my breath and started to run towards the tower. Kyle and Steven each grabbed one of my shoulders.

"Just stop, alright?" Steven yelled.

Kyle nodded, "Jason just needs some time to cool off. We'll handle it if he-." I elbowed him in the gut, pushed Steven's hand off my shoulder, and continued towards the building.

Thanks to my non-child of Zeus powers, I had to use the elevator to get to the top of the tower. The ride was so incredibly long that I actually thought about what I was doing on the way up. Here I was, riding up an elevator to fight one of my best friends. Why was I doing this, I couldn't say, but I had this strange urge burning inside me. And, due to my weird personality and stupid habits, I started talking to myself.

"This is such a stupid idea…" I muttered, pacing in the elevator, "Jason's my friend, why am I going to fight him? He's being a jerk, that's why. But is it that, or am I the one being stupid? That's usually the case. Not to mention that one of us will probably get killed by the other. What am I saying? Jason will crush me! He's stronger when he's higher up, and he has his little birdie friend to help him out…" And that pretty much continued for the remainder of the elevator ride.

When the elevator reached the top floor, I went outside and found Jason. He was looking out over the city, and he looked like he was thinking deeply. Ace was lying down next to him, scratching its leg with its beak.

I tried not to make any noise, but since I am by no means graceful I tripped, and Ace jumped to attention. Jason turned around and snapped his fingers. The Griffin grabbed me by my shoulders. Before I could react, I was up at least one hundred more feet in the air, racing towards Lake Michigan. When we were over it, the monster dropped me from the vast height, and I plummeted toward the water.

Based on the knowledge I already knew about a child of Poseidon's abilities, I knew that this fall wouldn't hurt me too bad. I was screaming, obviously, though I wasn't concerned. But, the thing I realized seconds before I hit was that… this wasn't the ocean. What would happen if it were just regular lake water? I closed my eyes tight, screamed and _FLWHOOOM!_ I hit the water.

I sank down twenty feet, thirty feet, and I hit the bottom. I my eyes peeked open; just to check if I wasn't dead. I still could feel the water caressing my face. So, I was still alive, which was good. But now I was mad. Jason was going down, right after the freaking pigeon.

I had no way of telling what I did next exactly. All I know is that one minute I was in the water, and the next, I was on a huge wave of water. And when I say huge, I mean HUGE. It was like half of Lake Michigan rose out of its normal course to help me out. I saw Jason on Ace, flying almost as high as the clouds, with his sword drawn. The water rose up in a bubble next to me. I glanced over, and saw that my sword was in the bubble. I stuck my hand in and grabbed the weapon.

Jason scowled at me. I didn't realize until that point that the clouds around the city. They were storm clouds, no doubt, because there was lightning flashing. A bolt of lightning came right at me. I flung my arms in front of my face and the water somehow blocked the bolt from getting me.

I got scared then. Jason was being deadly serious. I knew that couldn't be that vicious. I bit my lip and prepared to get killed. Our swords met and we pushed each other at our hardest. Well, Jason was. I was trying to hold back, so instead of trying to kill my friend, I was basically on defense.

We ranged all around the city. I'm pretty sure that if any mortals were out and about tonight, they'd freak out because of the million tons of water floating above their heads. We ended up jumping off of our transportation 'vehicles' and onto the top of the Willis Tower. I stuck my hand up, and the water shot back into the lake.

After about seven minutes of fighting, I put my sword down in defeat. I couldn't do this anymore. Jason was too strong, and I was too soft… I had to give up. Jason raised his sword, ready to kill.

Just then, Jason's eyes went really wide. He dropped his sword, and his eyes looked like they were getting heavy. Suddenly, they closed and he dropped to the ground. Standing behind him was Kyle. He moved Jason aside and came up to me.

"Aren't you glad that you have a friend that knows literal knock-out moves?" Kyle asked me. Steven came up from a door seconds later.

I just stood there for a few moments, shocked at what had just happened. Kyle and Steven came up to me. Kyle patted my shoulders.

"You doing okay?" Steven asked. I looked back and forth from Kyle to Steven to Jason. That's when the tears started rolling. I know, I know, you're probably thinking, 'how non-Greek-heroic of me'. But, no offense, I just got done fighting with one of my best friends. When I'm emotionally scarred, I cry like a freaking baby.

I slumped down to the ground and started wiping my nose with my sleeve (Mrs. Polite and Mannerisms I am not). Kyle and Steven came up and awkwardly hugged me. After about five minutes, I stopped and walked over to Jason. I sighed, reached into my pockets, and pulled out a battery. I put the thing into Jason's hand. Immediately, his eyes opened up.

"Ugh…" He groaned, "What happened?" I blinked, confused. He didn't remember anything about what just happened? I shook my head.

"It's nothing." I said, helping him up. I heard clapping from behind us. Jason and I both turned around, and saw a figure standing behind us. The person looked tall, and looked like he was wearing a brown cloak.

"Very well done." The person said, "This'll be vastly interesting…" At that point, time slowed down. When the spell ended, the person was gone. Strange… but we shrugged it off as something that our imaginations thought up. After that we got up, hugged, made up, and made plans to go back to camp.

Jason already had Ace to go home on. Ace glared at me, and then made a weird noise in the back of its throat. Within minutes, three Pegasi flew onto the top of the tower. We each mounted one and flew off towards camp.

"Well," I thought to myself, "That's one more prophecy line down." Because I knew in my heart that our fight wasn't over.

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Prophecy Comes To A Close

We arrived back at camp, which make three times now. Chiron was waiting for us at the crest of the hill. His horse half was shifting uneasily, as if he had an idea about what went on. Steven and I hopped off of our Pegasi with ease. Jason got off of Ace, patted his head and Ace flew off.

"Well," He said, "That was a quick mission. What happened?" I was about to say 'Nothing!' When Steven put his hands on Jason's head and mine.

"These two tried to kill each other." He said. "Funny, huh?"

I looked at him like he was crazy. Chiron stared at Jason, and then at me. Kyle sighed and shook his head. Jason obviously figured out what went on an hour or so back.

"What did I do?" Jason asked. Kyle put a hand on his shoulder and walked off with him and started to explain. I shook my head and walked towards my cabin. After a few steps, I turned back and waved to Steven.

"Nice going on a quest with you."

As soon as my head hit my pillow in my cabin, my eyelids started to droop. Everyone else was asleep. In about three minutes, I was out like a light. No dreams came, so I had nothing to worry about… Until tomorrow that is.

The next morning, no one suspected anything was wrong. That was nice, because I really didn't want to talk about it. I guess while we were gone, some of the campers had asked if we could have a free day, and the campers had apparently won. So, we had free reign. I mostly hung out around the Hecate and Janus cabins, just to meet a few people. Anna was one girl from Hecate cabin, and she REALLY liked to make my hair turn different colors. When she got to blue-green, I asked her to keep it like that.

"It looks nice like that." She said with a friendly smile. With that, she was engulfed in a cloud, and she was gone.

After a few hours of walking and talking to some campers I didn't know, I tried to find Kyle and Jason. Kyle was in the middle of scaling the rock wall in full lava mode, and doing pretty well, so I decided to come back later to see if he was done. Then, I looked for Jason, but he was nowhere that I could see.

I met up with Kyle when he was done with the rock-climbing wall. He looked okay, with just a few scorch marks on his sleeves, which was pretty good considering that at least seven hundred gallons of lava flowed down during one trial.

"Hey," I said clapping him on the back, "Have you seen Jason around?" Kyle thought for a few seconds and shrugged.

"No, why?" He replied. I shook my head.

"Just a weird feeling…" I said, rubbing my temples. Kyle and I walked over to the commons area. Lunch was ready, and we were both hungry. Today's lunch featured nymph prepared barbeque pork chops, olives and feta cheese. I didn't care for the cheese, but everything else was good.

When Jason didn't show up after lunch, I knew something was up. I ran around the camp, asking people if they'd seen him. There was a new camper there, so I went up to him. He had blue eyes, dirty blonde hair that went in front of his right eye, but his outfit was weird. If I had to put it in simple terms, he looked like… a ninja? Yeah, he looked like a ninja. His outfit was light blue, like his eyes. When I asked his name, he said, "Alec."

But that ninja did not have very wise information, other than a point towards the forest. I thanked him and ran towards the woods. I stopped at the edge of the woods; I unsheathed my sword, just for safekeeping.

Thanks to the heat that day, most of the monsters were inside their little hidey-holes. After ten minutes, I couldn't find any signs of Jay. I didn't want to call out, because some monsters probably wouldn't hesitate to come out of the shade for a snack. So, to ensure that I wouldn't end up in the literal 'belly of the beast', I kept quiet.

Another half hour went by without any luck. But forty-five minutes into my search, I found him. Jason was leaning up against a tree with a lot of nasty cuts on his chest, arms, and shoulders. I gasped, and ran up to him. So, of course with my ever-expanding list of sarcastic responses, I came up with this one.

"What kind of weed whacker did this to you?" I nearly screamed.

"Really? You need to do this now?" He groaned and clutched his stomach in pain. I slapped myself in the head, and helped Jason up. We needed to get him to the infirmary RIGHT NOW. We half walked, half limped to the edge of the forest, and I called for assistance. One kid from Apollo's cabin rushed over and helped me get Jason to the infirmary.

"He'll be okay." Said one of the Apollo kids, "We think he'll be well enough to move around and talk in a few days or so." I nodded, thanked him for his help and walked out of the sick room.

"Hey Kyle," I said, clapping him on the back, "I found Jason." He spun around and smiled.

"That's good!" He said with a smile, "Where is he?"

"He's in the infirmary." I stated, "Almost bled to death in the woods."

"What?" He screamed. "And you didn't tell me?"

"I just did, Sherlock," I said, "In case you didn't catch that."

Kyle scoffed at me, waved his hand dismissively. "I'm gonna go see him."

"He'll be able to talk soon, but not today, alright?" I forewarned him. He sighed indifferently, and walked off towards the infirmary. I just stood there for a few seconds, and then I walked off to spend the rest of my free day the way I wanted to; by taking a nap.

The next morning, I saw Jason at breakfast. He was wrapped in bandages covering almost every part of visible skin, and looked like he hadn't had a good night's sleep. Marco wasn't there, which was really weird. I thought he was the counselor for Zeus' cabin. I went to ask Jason about it.

"So…" I said, rocking back and forth on my heels. "How're you doing, mummy?" Jason rolled his eyes.

"Seriously, would you quit that?" He snapped.

I sighed and put my head down dejectedly. "I'm sorry. I'm working on that. Seriously though, how are you holding up?"

Jason rolled his shoulders, wincing once or twice, "I've been better. A lot better. But I'll live."

"That's good." I said with a smile that quickly faded. "But, there's something I want to ask you… Two things, actually…"

"Well, let's hear it." He said.

I thought about which one to ask first. I made my decision quickly. "How did this…" I waved my hand in front of him, "How did this happen to you?"

Jason shifted uncomfortably. "You remember my… 'brother', Marco?" The way he said 'brother' made it sound like he didn't believe it. That's when I got what he was saying.

"Marco did this to you?" I squeaked incredulously. He nodded. I smacked my head in shock. What the heck? Since when did siblings try to kill each other? I mean literally, not the way some of you might say it when you're annoyed.

"Okay…" I said, running my hands through my hair, "Where is he now? I know he wasn't at breakfast."

"Oh he left." Jason informed me, "Right after he did this." He pointed to each part of him that was hurt. I blew some hair out of my face.

"Alright…" I said, "Do you have any idea where he might be? Any idea at all?" Jason shook his head.

"No clue… but there is something that I've been wondering about with him ever since yesterday…" I raised my eyebrows.

"What is it?" I asked.

"How he even got into camp…" Jason said.

I gave him a confused look. "Why do you wonder that?" That's when Jason dropped a bomb.

"He isn't even the son of Zeus." He stated. I just stared at him.

"What the-? Then… why did Zeus claim him?" I challenged his accusation, only because it sounded ridiculous.

"To cover up something horrible." Jason said.

"Okay, what could be so bad that Zeus, the FREAKING king of the FREAKING gods, needed to lie to cover up?"

"A son of Kronos." Jason said. "Marco's the son of Kronos."

Chapter Twenty-Four: Happily Ever- Ah, We're Just Kidding

Those words cut into me like a razor sharp sword. I backed up, and put my hand over my mouth. I felt like I was going to be sick. A son of Kronos? This was not good.

"You have to tell Chiron about this, Jason" I said, about to grab his shoulders. But before I did, I remembered all of his bandages. So I just nudged him towards the Big House, but he pushed my hand away.

"I already told him when I was in the infirmary. He's already thinking about ways that we can do something about this." Jason said.

I nodded, thinking it was good idea. "We're probably going to have to stop him next summer. But that can wait. There's no way that Marco can come up with allies that will be willing to help him with… whatever it is that he's doing."

"Yeah," Jason said, "We'll stop him. Okay?" He patted me on the back. I smiled, and gently patted him on the back. I told him I'd see him later and went to tell Percy about what Jason told me.

"Hey Percy?" I asked when I got back in the cabin. " Can I talk to you about something?" He turned around and smiled.

"Sure Emma. What's up?" I told Percy about all the things that Jason told me about. He got paler and paler as he listened.

"Woo…" He sighed, putting his head in his hands when I finished, "This is bad. Like, REALLY bad. We're going to stop him next summer, no questions asked."

"But what if Chiron won't let us go out of Camp?" I asked concerned, "Then what do we do?" Percy smiled.

"Then we'll sneak out." Percy chided, "Annabeth and I did it once. Your friends and I can do the same next year." I grinned.

"Thanks Percy." I said, and I flopped down on my pillow until the next period.

The next few days were bad. Seven more campers went missing, including Sean from Zeus' cabin. Good riddance, I thought when I first heard about that. But that quickly faded. This was serious business that we were dealing with. A lot of campers were missing, and most of them were most likely joining Marco in his evil quest.

Gina came up to me one day, just to talk about stuff.

"What's going on a quest like?" she asked. I had totally forgotten that she had never been on a quest. I blew some hair out of my face.

"It's definitely a rush, I'll tell you that." I said, "But definitely not something you'd want to do more than once or twice in a single summer."

She laughed, but I wasn't kidding. I really had to work on this sarcasm thing. Otherwise, no one would ever take me serious.

The rest of the summer was pleasant. No one got killed, and the injury rate was way down compared to the beginning of the summer. Most of the campers were leaving mid-August, the boys and I included. Percy said he was going back to Manhattan to see his mother.

I said goodbye to my new siblings, and to Chiron and Mr. D. Despite all the campers' hatred against the camp director, I liked him. I thought he was going to be a good person to go to about my problems in the future.

I hugged Percy goodbye, and rejoined Kyle and Jason at the crest of the hill. I saw each of our parents' cars, so I figured we weren't going home together.

"Hey you guys!" Percy called us back. We all spun around to see what he wanted.

"Yeah?" Kyle asked.

"You three are going to be great heroes. You realize that, right?" I smiled, and when I saw the boys, I saw that they were smiling too. This was easily the best summer ever. Who knows what next year will bring…


End file.
